Lost River is a dark and suspenseful semi-futuristic fable from début
writer-director Ryan Gosling. It's set in a run-down American town that seems to have been left behind by a worsening economy. Mad Men's Christina
Hendricks plays a single mother of two, desperately trying to save her family
home from being repossessed and demolished by the bank. She takes on a mysterious
job offered to her by Ben Mendelsohn's villainous bank manager as a means to
earn extra cash to repay her arrears.
The job turns out to be a performer at a torture-themed nightclub. Her son, played by Marvel's
Agents of Shield's Iain De Caestecker, tries his best to contribute by
scavenging copper from derelict properties scattered amongst the deserted areas
of the vicinity. However, this angers the local thug, played by a
shaven-headed Matt Smith of Doctor Who fame, who has laid claim to all of the
copper as his own.
It's a simple story with unfortunate encounters stimulating cat-and-mouse
conflicts between its characters. Its setting is grim and
mainly devastated yet the film is consistently visually-arresting. I'm a big fan of Nicholas
Winding-Refn's films, with whom Ryan Gosling collaborated by starring in Drive
and Only God Forgives. It seems that
Gosling shares a similar style when it
comes to the tone on display here. Elements of horror
are then introduced with a slight adjustment in tone and visuals suggesting an
influence akin to David Lynch. The film brings compelling
mystery with little signs of hope emerging from a disturbing story. The performances are solid
and it's an ambitious piece that has the potential to become a cult favourite
in the future.
It's not perfect but at 95 minutes it's the right length for
this nightmarish modern-day fairy-tale about
family and survival. I imagine that the
original cut, before the film was picked up by a distributor, was much longer and has
been subject to compromise. I remember seeing
a clip months ago that hasn't ended up in the version released. It's a promisingly brave directorial début
from Ryan Gosling, a piece of Arthouse cinema that won't be to everyone's
tastes for the same reasons I gave when
I reviewed Only God Forgives a couple of years ago, but Lost River was right up
my street.
Lost River is in cinemas and available On-Demand now.
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