Ryan Gosling’s first, and to date, only writing and directing credit, 2014’s Lost River is by no means a film for everyone. . . an arthouse style dark fairytale with tinges of gialli violence and colour, the actor turned filmmaker sets in place a slow, unsettling mood that will either hold you in its oppressive grip, or might just leave you up the creek without a paddle.
The title a reference to the town in which we are dropped into, it is like much of smaller town America (and some of larger city America as well – it is actually filmed in Detroit), a crumbling locale where many young folks have fled, businesses sit empty, roving gangs of hoodlums burn houses for the fun of it, and everyone lives in a dystopic-like fugue state of depressed apathy.
Billy (Christina Hendricks) is one such woman. . . behind three months on her home payment (more dire as it has been her family home since she was a child), she is further burdened by the fact that she must support teenage son Bones (Iain De Caestecker) and her much younger second boy, Franky (Landyn Stewart).
Living on a street almost deserted of bodies, their only neighbours reside across the road. . . teenaged Rat (Saoirse Ronan), the nickname coming from the fact she has a pet rat, takes care of her long mute grandmother (Barbara Steele – Black Sunday; Pit and the Pendulum – a treat for horror fans) – who simply sits in a black veil re-watching her old wedding tapes.
Roaming the streets are Bully (Matt Smith) and his gang, the so-called king of this place. With no noticeable cop presence in sight, everyone knows to fear the young man. . . for the repercussions are severe if you get in his way.
Though there is a story, Gosling unfurls the tale in his own way. Not always obvious or even connected, Billy takes on a job unknown. . . ‘gifted’ from eccentric new-to-town banker Dave (Ben Mendelsohn). When she arrives, it is a gothic club of horror, fake murders and macabre scenarios orchestrated to the highest degree to enthral the packed attendees. Billy is shown the ropes from Dave’s loyal employee, Cat (Eva Mendes), including an ominous purple coloured private corridor leading to pod filled rooms where ladies can work to make extra dough.
Bones, looking for a way to escape, enters dilapidated and burnt edifices, stripping them of their copper pipes for some cash to fix up his beat-up car. Of course, this lucrative practice conflicts with Bully’s fiefdom, their paths now stuck on the same collision course.
And, while on his journeys, Bones also discovers a road into the water, streetlights and all other signs of human existence eerily disappearing into the cold, murky abyss. Learning from Rat that this was part of the old town that was flooded to create a reservoir. . . she explains that there is said to be a curse on the area (why it feels like they are bogged down under a gazillion gallons of water) – the only way to break it, descend to the ominous depths and bring something back with you. Somewhat interestingly, I live in the same area where Gosling grew up, and this premise is actually pulled from our own local history – where a bunch of villages were flooded to make way for the Seaway and power dam (a fascinating little sidenote that no one outside of this area would ever pick up on).
A visually enthralling picture, Gosling, clearly inspired by a number of different sources – from vintage giallo and horror, to directors like David Lynch, Terrence Malick, and frequent collaborator Nicolas Winding Refn (also notice the entrance to the club, which is a reference to the Fritz Lang directed silent German classic Metropolis), shuffles them all together to create the aforementioned mood. . . dark, uncanny, and nightmarish, it is reality mixed with apocalypse, life combined with lawlessness, ghost town both above and below water. Beautifully framed, encompassing a striking colour palette, and featuring some fascinating concepts (including the street to nowhere and the gargoyle club), there is a gloomy fantasy to this very real situation – the only hope: to somehow vanquish this dejecting aura, thus allowing you to escape its confines. Over the top echoes a varied, near undefinable atmospheric score by Johnny Jewel – a composition he describes as, “dark Goonies”.
An artistic, at times disjointed and uneasily paced picture, Lost River is an intriguing first vision from the mind of Ryan Gosling. Not particularly definable, it is coming of age story, dark city drama, dystopic vision of the present future, lamentation of a lost and buried history, both giallo and gothic horror, fantasy, and adult fairytale. Though some of the ideas are not fully developed, the so-called bones that hold the narrative together are fascinating to gaze at. Also watch for memorable cameos from real life Detroit residents Thomas McDonald as Skip (opposite De Caestecker) and Aris Costner as Marylou (opposite Smith – outside the convenience store), both further capturing life in this decaying asphalt jungle. So, dive into this atmospheric mood piece in order to salvage a little known motion picture – it doesn’t deserve to be lost down river.