Reality and fantasy overlap in this surreal portrayal of a dying town and the people clinging to life. The only way this desperate family can leave the town is by breaking a curse. With a well known cast, Ryan Gosling boldly writes and directs his debut film, featuring unconventional themes and situations. It’s a very creative and original story, but with a not-so-original Nicolas Winding Refn style.
Lost River (2014, Gosling, USA) follows a single mom and her two sons as they struggle to keep their house. The mother, Billy (Christina Hendricks), starts working in a freakish nightclub in desperation for money, and her eldest son, Bones (Iain de Caestecker), scavenges for copper to sell but steals from the wrong guy, Bully (Matt Smith), and winds up in danger. The story goes on to include a possible curse, which then tests the limits of how far one would go to get out of town or survive in it. Multiple journeys and moral dilemmas are explored. The acting is definitely noteworthy, Hendricks (as Billy) delivers a perfect insecure mother swamped in trivialities; there’s a bizarre musical performance by Ben Mendelsohn (as Dave); and de Caestecker (as Bones) and Saoirse Ronan (as Rat) exhibit remarkable chemistry.
There’s a unique balance of fantasy and reality depicted in Lost River. The story is told in an imaginative, original way but it’s also intriguingly connected to unfortunate real life situations. Lost River focuses attention on the characters’ responses to relevant taboos and issues in today’s society, such as: living in poverty, the reversal of roles between parent and child, bullying, and sexual harassment. As for fantasy, the whole town is, perchance, under a spell; a man without lips follows Bones, and Billy has to fake her murder each night just to make enough money to get by. Very strange and very intriguing. The “look” of the film isn’t as original as the plot lines and characters. The film is overall very dark with low lit lights, harsh greens and deep oranges. The pace is slow moving and the acting is more pronounced in the silent scenes than in dialogue scenes. Gosling obviously got this idea from Drive (2011) or Only God Forgives (2013), which he stars in, or any other film directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. Some credit should go to Refn for how Lost River turned out. There are many motifs, symbols, allusions, and metaphors littered throughout the film that require you to go out of your way and look things up. Although this film can be difficult to fully grasp the first time through, many connections can be found in the second and third viewing. It’s easy to overlook certain, meaningful elements and simply not understand the message Gosling is trying to convey. He is very creative and artsy in the way he presents the material, so that he makes it a little too abstract for a regular movie watcher to pick up on.
If you prefer to be a passive movie watcher or just want to be entertained, Lost River may not be for you. This film makes you watch closely and draw connections in order to see the meaning; it invites multiple viewings. It’s meant to be studied for its symbolism and its metaphoric and cinematic references; and in that way, it’s a fantastic and rewarding film. And when Billy cuts off her face, I, too, give a standing ovation to this story.
“My grandmother used to live there. She hasn’t been the same ever since. No one has. As soon as the last town was drowned… an evil spell was cast on Lost River.” — Rat
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