Israeli director Alma Har’el, whose feature documentary debut Bombay Beach was a singular success, has returned after five years with her impatiently awaited second effort: a cinematic essay exposing naïve notions of the existence of something as ephemeral as “true” love that is free of pain. Three protagonists guide us through their personal stories: Alaskan stripper Blake, Hawaiian-raised freethinker Willie, and a New Yorker named Victory who sings about her sorrow. The unconventional form combines authentic material from the protagonists’ daily lives, stylized scenes probing their frequently grim pasts, and additional sequences seeking possible future trajectories for each of them. The film, which may seem too headstrong from a “rational” viewer’s perspective, uses the sharp turns of a fixed emotional course to uncover the essence of something as universal as love, whose subtle nuances surface under the hypnotic soundtrack by American musician Flying Lotus.