Lost River (2014) Reviews

• Amazing directorial debut from Ryan Gosling, but not for everyone.

  LouisGur2015-04-08

  Most famous actors rely heavily on the production team during their directorial debuts and aren't very involved in the directing process. Last year, Angelina Jolie truly proved this with her movie Unbroken (actually her second film as a director though). A high budget WW2 film that Jolie clearly didn't put much effort into. It feels like the whole idea was just given to her when she called her agent and stated that she would like to direct a new movie. It is also not uncommon to see actors casting themselves in their directorial debuts, such as Zach Braff in Garden State. Lost River, is the weirdest directorial debut you'll ever see from an actor. I've always liked Ryan Gosling. He picks his movies carefully and works great with "different" directors like Nicolas Winding Refn and Derek Cianfrance. Lost River is probably the strangest film in recent years. It is hard to explain what it is about so I'm not going to talk about that in this review. The movie is very similar to most David Lynch films, especially Mulholland Drive. Therefore, one of the best things about Lost River is actually the cinematography, it helps to create the mysterious experience. I'm a very big fan of thrillers which don't explain everything to the viewer, but I know most people aren't. And that's why many will dislike this movie for what it is. With that being said, if you hate to re-watch films and want simple story lines, Lost River is not what you should be watching. I really appreciate all the effort Ryan Gosling has put into this movie. It is risky to make a film like Lost River these days, and I'm glad Gosling was willing to take that risk to show his trademark. It is notable that he actually made the movie himself and didn't rely on the producers. Fans of David Lynch, Nicolas Winding Refn and David Cronenberg will surely have a good time with Lost River. I'm looking forward to Gosling's next feature, and can't wait to re-watch this film.

• Surprisingly good

  derbo732015-11-22

  Beware, this movie is quite dark and disturbing. It has a certain Terry Gilliam feel about it, although it goes deeper and touches the dark bottom of your soul. It is beautifully shot, has a constant subtle tension and very good music. Although the story is rather predictable it reminded me of the greatest epic tales of mankind. Very rich and creative debut. Good actors and superb camera work, settings and effects. The movie feels like a true nightmare sometimes, don't be fooled, though - it is not a classical horror movie or thriller. It is more like a dark dream put onto celluloid. You see lots of blood and some violence, still it will not work for typical fans of guts and gore movies. Real cinema.

• Each scene is like a painting

  emilyart2015-06-20

  I really wasn't sure about this to start with, but I rented it, so I stuck with it to get my £3.99 worth. I am so glad I did. The pace is slow to begin with, and it's hard to like any of the characters in the beginning. But as it unfolds you become intrigued by the relationships the characters have, and you see a part of yourself in each of them, even if their plight is so different from ones own. The thing I found so amazing about it was that every single shot was so well considered- the composition and colour. It is reminiscent of David Lynch in places, showing the darkness of human nature in such a beautifully shot way. It really was like a moving painting. This film should not be compared to other films of this genre. The film making was very mature and considered, and I truly view this as a work of art. I liked how in parts, the acting was very raw, like watching a documentary rather than a 'movie'. And I am not sure what it has left me with- Sometimes when I watch a film, I want to know more about the characters and what becomes of them when the credits roll. I didn't want to know more. I was content with having seen the journey they made and where we left them. I was very cynical, 'a Hollywood star steps behind the camera' - we have heard it before. But if this was his debut film as a director, then I think there are amazing things to follow and he should stay behind the camera.

• Very Good First Work

  EdgarST2015-09-19

  Ryan Gosling wrote and directed a fine first film, a tale about ordinary people surrounded by myth and decay, in an almost abandoned town in Michigan. However, the movie was submitted to the wrong film festival: you know, Cannes means tough competition and the French can be haughty. With the tone of an apocalyptic fable, «Lost River» would have been more appreciated in specialized events, as the fantasy film festivals celebrated in Porto, Neuchâtel, Brussels, Sitges, Málaga, Amsterdam, Gérardmer, Puchon, Austin or Buenos Aires. «Lost River» strongly belongs in those festivals and it could have been awarded with several prizes: first work by a new director, for its cinematography, screenplay, or for a couple of good performances. Handled by Warner Brothers, the company did not know what to do with this beautiful motion picture, so it considered "selling the distribution rights to another company" and finally decided to limit its exposure to on- demand exhibitions. Or simply put: it just decided to kill it. «Lost River» belongs to a special lineage of American films that portrait people and places of the United States that are often ignored or mistreated in mainstream cinema by filmmakers without any compassion or understanding of their situation: see how Alan Parker portrayed poverty in Mississippi, with a "chic touch" in the deplorable «Angel Heart». I refer to a lineage as old as King Vidor's «Street Scene», to Robert Altman's «Thieves Like Us», David Lynch's «Blue Velvet», Michael Moore's «Roger & Me», and many other independent films that came to my mind, as Harmony Korine's «Gummo», Jeff Nichols' «Mud», Daniel Patrick Carbone's «Hide Your Smiling Faces» and Kat Candler's «Hellion». As an individual of these times, Gosling was audio-visually "trained" from watching television and films since childhood, so he wrote a fragmented script, but it does have a linear Aristotelian plot with well- defined three acts, precise plot points, a satisfying resolution and well-structured characters (some are fascinanting). In the story, a single mother (Christina Hendricks) tries to keep her childhood home and her little family together (she and her two sons) in the dying town of Lost River. To do so she accepts a job offer from a bank manager (Ben Mendelsohn) in a night club literally from hell, where the main attraction (Eva Mendes) dances to "Moliendo café" as sung by Lucho Gatica, to be suddenly beaten and killed by a hoodlum, and her blood spreaded on the audience, all as part of the show. In this way the mother enters a sordid and morbid sector of society (imagine that all clients are Dennis Hoppers from «Blue Velvet» times 50, plus the naked and masked bourgeoisie of «Eyes Wide Shut»). Simultaneously her adolescent son (Iain de Caestecker) tries to help her by extracting and selling pieces of copper found in derelict buildings, which are claimed by a psychopath (Matt Smith) who controls what is left of Lost River. As he runs from the guy, the boy incidentally discovers a submerged town in a lake. His girlfriend neighbor (Saoirse Ronan) tells him that her grandmother (Barbara Steele) --who decided to remain silent when her husband died-- has predicted that the day someone brings up to the surface a fragment of anything belonging to the lost town, Lost River will be freed from a curse. Although what is being told is very violent in spirit (and overtly so in a few scenes), Gosling moved his story with a smooth and gentle pace, unfolding the tale in a calm manner, rarely unaltered, which brings me to my only objection, a factor that did alter this tone of serenity: the music score by Johnny Jewel. Not because it is bad music, but for being unnecessary in most of the cases. This is not only a problem in Gosling's film, but in almost all movies, especially in American productions. Filmmakers seem to mistrust the power of the images they create and allow composers, editors and sound crew to overemphasize what is obvious. Besides Jewel's cues are too short and have a spasmodic effect: they accentuate a phrase, an expression, an action, and then fade until the next reaction. But fortunately the film transcends this limitation. As you watch «Lost River», it is true that you may remember one or two works from Lynch or Nicolas Winding Refn, but I do not see the point of making a fuss about this, when all filmmakers, from Woody Allen to Brian De Palma, show their influences and no one complains. They are even exalted because of copying Ingmar Bergman or Alfred Hitchcock. This said, as a whole «Lost River» is a satisfying motion picture, with good performances by all: even Barbara Steele in her silent role is remarkable. Forget what some say about this movie and watch it. You will like it.

• beautiful dark fairy tale

  garcae2015-08-10

  This movie is a beautiful metaphor, a dark fairy tale where a mythological hero needs to break the spell to save a society in decadence. The setting is a city in decay ruled by evil and violence (if you love abandoned places and urban exploration you will love this movie). The soundtrack is a piece of art. The moment where the young lovers dance in an abandoned building is one of the most beautiful shots I have seen lately. The lovers need to fight to find hope in a place where society is in decay and people are trapped by sadness. The lake is a metaphor of the past, under the water lives the lost world, the things that we lost, the past that is still haunting us. I was a bit skeptical about Ryan Gosling's debut as a director, but I must say that he has surprised me. You need to watch this movie as it is, a fairy tale and a metaphor of today's decadent society.