Lost River

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.

Watched the trailer and was mesmerized by some of the imagery that Ryan Gosling has managed to capture.

Then I watched the film itself.

It felt like i was watching the extended version of the trailer, small snippets of dialogue surrounded by vast dreamlike imagery but with no actual story to go with it.

This film isn't bad its just that it's not very good either. I felt like i was left wanting a little bit more, that it hadn't really fulfilled my appetite.

That said there is potential and because Gosling is just so damned cool I will be looking forward to the next step (Fan boy mode deactivated).

Id hate to compare Gosling to Refn, because in reality their styles in film making are completely different. This being said, I found Lost River very pleasing for that reason. Gosling's debut is worth watching. If you have immersed yourself in categories of film such as Lost River, you'll love it. However, if you haven't seen many movies like this one, I recommend finding a title related to this one with a higher rating and (maybe) higher commercialization. Afterwards, come back and appreciate what Gosling has to offer because every frame is shot with care. He is an actor/director who cares and there isn't a whole lot of that these days.

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.

It's not often that I am truly perplexed by a film's critical reception. The critical blasting this has gotten truly... perplexes me. I get it, it's not for everyone, but neither is The Tree of Life, or Under The Skin, or even Drive, or countless of other films that managed to get embraced well- enough by many critics, if not most. Sure, the screenplay here needed some work. Sure, it doesn't really seem tightly-woven and it doesn't have any real forward action that seems to be driving the plot. But so what? As a mood piece, this makes the perfect midnight movie. It's visually outstanding, able to capture certain colors and images that I haven't even seen Gosling's good friend Nicolas Winding Refn capture. And yes, this film seems to be heavily influenced by him. I hated Only God Forgives because I found it boring, nonsensical, and totally pretentious, with not an ounce of honest artistry. I found Bronson to be sort of entertaining, but also full of itself. I did like Drive though.

Gosling really shows a certain directorial skill here, even if it's really borrowing from Refn's same style. And unlike Refn's last film, despite how "airy" the screenplay is, the film manages to capture a true emotional core. I actually cared about the three lead characters and felt like I was on this ride with them. The film's deeply ambitious, but it also doesn't feel ponderous or pretentious. I felt like it truly touched on something special that, despite how flawed it is, really made it work. It's somewhat messy, somewhat clumsy, yet I thought it was able to rise above that and work as an actual film, and not just great individual scenes without anything holding them together. Hendricks, De Caestecker, and Ronan are really strong as well and all three manage to hit the perfect pitch for the type of film Gosling wanted to make.

So, what can I say? It's going to be really tough seeing the film get as much hate throughout the year, but I hope it's able to get at least a few more fans and I hope Gosling isn't discouraged from making another film because if he was able to touch the notes that he did here despite all of the flaws, he could very well make a masterpiece soon enough. I can't wait to rewatch this.