Lou is an action thriller dealing with a child kidnapping on the quaint Orcas Island, starring Allison Janney, Jurnee Smollett, and Logan Marshall-Green.
When young Vee is kidnapped by her presumed-dead father Philip amid a raging storm on Orcas Island, her mother Hannah and mysterious neighbor Lou embark upon a daring quest against time.
Posing several intriguing questions about the mysterious characters’ histories and identities, Lou packs a series of dark secrets and discrete links with the American military and CIA within the abduction plot.
Directed by the German-American cinematographer-director Anna Foerster, Lou offers a compelling family-centric action thriller promising to keep viewers at the edge of their seats till the very last second.
Lou Story Summary
Lou Adell leads an isolated life in her cabin on Orcas Island, disconnected from the rest of the town. Concealing multiple secrets, Lou prepares for her suicide as she gathers money, burns old documents and papers in a fire, and tests her weapons.
As Lou withdraws every penny left in her bank, the TV blares in the background, reporting heightened tensions with Iran amid rumors about the CIA’s involvement in the country’s 1953 coup.
Lou meets the town Sherrif Rankin, who attempts to convince her to get an arthritis bracelet. As Lou heads home, the radio alerts against one of the fiercest storms the Pacific Northwest has seen in years and reports power cuts and suspended ferry services to the San Juan Islands.
Single mother Hannah Dawson leads a quaint life on the islands with her young daughter Vee. Lou (Hannah’s landlady) drives up to Hannah and issues a deadline for rent payments.
Vee runs through the farm in her innocent game of hide-and-seek, directly rushing into the path of Lou’s car. A very concerned Hannah rebukes Lou for reckless driving, but Lou lashes back at her.
Meanwhile, Hannah’s partner Chris drives up to ask if she needs anything from the town before the storm rages. Hannah conceals their relationship from Vee while also hiding the truth about her dead father.
On his way back, Chris picks up a man stranded on the road amid the storm. However, the hitchhiker turns out to be Vee’s presumed-dead father Philip, who subsequently kills Chris and takes over his truck, heading back to Hannah’s.
Lou burns more documents and old photos as splotches of her past haunted by politics and protests flash by. Believing her work to have left the world a more dangerous place, Lou prepares for her suicide, stocking the freezer with deer meat, penning a letter explaining her decisions, and offering her house to the unnamed addressee.
Hannah begins to reveal Philip’s truth to Vee but cannot go through with it. As she tucks Vee into bed, the lights suddenly go out. Assuming the storm to have affected power lines, Hannah momentarily leaves the house to flip the breaker; in the interim, Philip breaks into the house and stealthily abducts Vee using sleeping gas.
When Hannah discovers Chris’ supine corpse in his abandoned car, she worriedly rushes back home only to find Vee missing. A picture of Philip and Vee with the words “Game On” indicates Philip’s hand in the kidnapping. Just as Lou is about to pull the trigger on herself, Hannah frantically rushes in to seek Lou’s help.
Deciding to drive to Sherrif Rankin’s office, Lou and Hannah narrowly escape death as the car, rigged with a bomb by Philip, explodes.
Realizing the storm prevents them from making contact with the town, Lou and Hannah travel through the woods and follow Philip’s tracks to reach Vee. Hannah explains how Philip was a highly-trained Green Beret and explosives expert in the US military, wanted for war crimes he committed in Central America. She struggles to comprehend Philip’s return as he was presumed dead after blowing up his apartment during his arrest attempt.
A scared Vee awakens from sleep to find herself in a cabin accompanied by her long-absent father. Philip gives her a Walkman as a present to keep her distracted and claims to have left notes and clues for Hannah to join their adventure.
Lou and Hannah stumble upon a cabin, and Hannah identifies the two men keeping guard as Philip’s equally vicious colleagues, Tony and Gerry. Lou approaches the men under the guise of a weak storm-afflicted old lady seeking shelter. Tony pities her and admits her into the shed.
When Gerry becomes increasingly suspicious of Lou, a violent fight breaks out between the three, and a tortured Gerry reveals in his dying breaths that Philip is taking Vee to Eagle Bay. Lou finds a postcard note reading “Old habits die hard. Having fun yet?” left behind by Philip, revealing his psychopathic game. Hannah is shocked by Lou’s skills, and Lou confesses she was in the CIA for 26 years as a field agent.
Lou and Hannah continue following Philip’s tracks and make a short rest stop. Hannah’s foot is badly blistered, and Lou notices visible marks of abuse on her hands, judging her for staying in an abusive marriage.
Hannah angrily retaliates, revealing how Philip manipulated her to blame herself for their failing marriage and threatened to kill Hannah and Vee if they left. Remembering how she’d whisper “Game on” to Vee to protect her from Philip’s erratic moods, Hannah disgustedly remarks he has made it into a pathetic literal game.
Hannah and Lou continue their search and stumble upon the abandoned carrier. As they attempt to cross an unstable bridge hanging over a treacherous ravine, Lou’s arthritis leads to both losing their grip and falling into the muddy crevice.
Despite their delay, the two finally reach the coast just a few hours after Philip. Lou finds Vee’s torn stuffed toy with another note saying “Together Forever” on a lighthouse postcard in an abandoned shipwreck on the coast. Noticing smoke in the distance, Lou sends Hannah up the hill to connect to emergency services with her radio while she follows the smoke signal herself.
Lou finally locates Vee in a cave but is ambushed by Philip. Lou and Philip face each other finally. A turn of events reveals that Philip is Lou’s estranged son. Philip resents his mother for using him as a pawn in her mission when she left him to his devices after his abduction in Iran. Philip wants to get back at Lou for prioritizing her cover over his safety and stealing his wife and child from him.
After unsuccessful attempts to reason with Philip, Lou is struck in the chest with an axe as her son escapes, asking her to bring Hannah to the lighthouse for a “family reunion.”
Hannah successfully informs Sheriff Rankin about Vee’s kidnapping. As the sheriff’s department begins the investigation, the Federal marshals identify Lou as a priority target of the CIA and Philip as a wanted fugitive convicted in the murder of numerous civilians. Authorizing legal force, the federal marshals take over the investigation and order to seal all approaches to Eagle Bay.
Lou Ending Explained
Hannah finds an injured Lou in the cave and treats her wound. When Hannah stumbles upon the string of postcards and messages in Lou’s bag, she realizes the notes were addressed to Lou – his mother – all along. Lou defeatedly explains how her proximity to a dangerous man in her mission in Iran led to Philip’s birth. She had to keep the baby to keep her cover intact.
After Philip’s traumatic abduction, Lou blackmailed the CIA with incriminating evidence proving their involvement in the 1953 Iran coup to force an investigation into Philip’s misdeeds in El Salvador. Lou admits to being responsible for bringing Hannah and Vee to the island to protect them from her son.
Hannah feels betrayed after Lou’s confession and leaves for the lighthouse alone, leaving Lou in her dying breath as traumatic memories float through her mind.
Sheriff Rankin drives to the beach against the US Marshal’s orders and finds Lou injured. He alerts her about the Feds discovering her identity, and Lou heads towards the lighthouse on the sheriff’s bike.
Hannah finally finds Vee at the top of the lighthouse, but Philip refuses to hand Vee over to her and hints at a bomb rigged to the lighthouse. Hannah convinces Philip to let Vee out and shoots him on the shoulder. As the two physically grapple against each other, Hannah stabs Philip’s hand with Lou’s knife, momentarily locking him and rushing downstairs towards Vee.
Hannah finds Vee crouched at the lighthouse foundation and discovers the bomb rigged by Philip. Lou joins them in the lighthouse and finds a way to divert the bomb’s signal before Philip can detonate it.
The US Marshals reach the coast, and Hannah and Lou rush Vee to her safety. As an angered Philip limps after the trio, Lou orders Hannah to leave with Vee and check the letter she left for them at her house.
Does Philip kill Lou?
Bidding farewell to her granddaughter, Lou draws the Marshals’ attention by detonating the bomb on the lighthouse. As Lou and Philip approach each other on the beach, pent-up emotions over the years translate into rabid violence as the mother and son battle for survival against each other.
As they are about to drown each other on the beach, tender childhood memories resuscitate, and Philip holds his mother in a cathartic embrace. Lou apologizes to her son as the chopper shoots at Philip, seemingly killing Lou with her son.
Vee returns home safely, and the US Marshals question Hannah about her abrupt decision to leave for Seattle. The officials interrogate Hannah repeatedly about Lou and her concealed documents, but Hannah resolvedly denies any knowledge of Lou’s life as a spy. Sherrif Rankin thanks Hannah for her heartfelt memorial service, and the two reminisce about Lou.
In a concluding scene, Hannah and Vee embark on the boat to their new life in Seattle. A woman wearing a familiar arthritis bracelet watches on with binoculars from a distance, hinting at Lou’s survival unbeknownst to Hannah.
Lou is now streaming on Netflix.
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