Lost River

LOST RIVER

Director : Ryan Gosling
Year : 2015
Genre : Thriller
Rating : **

 

When Ryan Goslings' directorial debut 'Lost River' played at the prestigious Cannes festival last year, it was met with a chorus of derisory boos and far from friendly critical panning. Of course, this kind of reaction is to unfortunately commonplace from the typically snooty and high-brow audiences of the notoriously bitter festival but even stalwarts of Cannes were shocked at the level of almost unanimous hatred thrown at 'Lost River'. Taken so aback by the tidal wave of anger shown towards his opus, Gosling reluctantly took 'Lost River' back to the cutting room and for 10 months, not a word was mentioned about it from either its cast or its creator.

However fans of Gosling did not have too long to wait and this week, 'Lost River' finally entered cinemas in the actors own personal directorial cut. So, have the changes and tweaks made any difference? Well, if the muted critical reception met towards this edited form of 'Lost River' are anything to go by, then not really.

The movie is a fantasy neo-noir drama and tells the story of a single mother (Christina Hendricks) who has to enter a dark underworld in order to pay her bills and prevent her house from being demolished. Meanwhile her son Bones (Iain De Caestecker) traverses the landscape of his nightmarish town searching for copper while also avoiding the wrath of a feared bully (Matt Smith). One day, while going on his daily travels, Bones discovers an underwater utopia which he believes is casting a spell on his family and endeavours to try and break the curse.

 

It is clear watching 'Lost River' that Gosling has taken more than just a pinch of influence from his 'Drive' and 'Only God Forgives' director Nicolas Winding-Refn as almost every frame of the picture captures the same neo-noir sheen and slick cinematographical style that made those movies so visually entertaining. Not to mention more than just a hint of David Lynch, Gaspar Noe and Terrence Malick thrown in for good measure. Actually in retrospect, there is not one moment of 'Lost River' that isn't beautifully shot and to his credit, Gosling clearly shows that he has great talent and potential behind the camera as well as in front if it.  But imitation isn't enough to carry the film and while it looks terrific, the script, characters and pacing are all over the place leading to one of the most frustratingly incoherent movies I have seen in quite a long time.

To say that 'Lost River' does make a hell of lot of sense is quite an understatement as the film is continually littered with imagery and ideas that do not mesh whatsoever. In fact, there are at least 5 or 6 scenes that have little to nothing to do with the overall plot in any way at all while many characters appear and disappear from the narrative in an extremely sporadic manner. I am a fan of surrealist cinema and I greatly admire directors who try to do something innovative and exciting with the medium but I have very little tolerance for over-indulgent filmmaking. 'Lost River' is the epitome of over-indulgence. I admire the picture very much for its visual splendour and Goslings directorial potential but I can't recommend it for anything else. It is sloppily told, the characters are completely two - dimensional and the story is beyond simplistic.