Director: Ryan Gosling
Writer: Ryan Gosling (Screenplay)
Starring: Christina Hendricks, Iain De Caestecker, Saoirse Rona, Matt Smith, Ben Mendelsohn, Eva Mendes, Reda Kateb, Barbara Steele, Landyn Stewart, Rob Zabrecky
Plot: A single mother is swept into a dark underworld, while her teenage son discovers a road that leads him to a secret underwater town.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Slow, Boring and Ordinary
Story: Lost River starts by showing our single mother Billy (Hendricks) who has two boys who live in a town that is slowly becoming empty of residence. Bones (De Caestecker) is one of the teenage sons who spends his time trying to take copper from the abandoned buildings in the city, but when he crosses paths with Bully (Smith) the man who claims to run the copper in the city. We see how Billy is struggling to keep the roof over her family’s heads.
Bones sees his family struggling and risks going back to steal from Bully hoping for one last pay day from the man he delivers too. Bones has a friend Rat (Ronan) who he lets out that he has found a road leading into the river. Billy get given a job offer which ends up being a lot different to what she bargained for inside a specialist club while Bones investigates the mystery lost town under the river. We continue to watch to see the friendship between Bones and Rat keep them together through all the problems the town in facing. Bones sees hw far his mother is being forced to go to make money and sets out for one final score to get the family out of the town once and for all.
Lost River really tries to throw the idea of a suffering family down our throats, we get to look at unemployment mixed with the effects of small towns losing the community feeling. All these effects are achieved very well because you do feel for the family but the crazed Bully seems out of place in this film. We really do get plenty of what just happened moments but in the end everything just seems very forced to make the family go through more than they need too. The over all feel of this movie comes off strange and you never get pulled in enough before getting stuck with a very sudden ending that doesn’t answer all the questions the film gave you. (5/10)
Actor Review
Christina Hendricks: Billy is the single mother trying to find a way to keep her family home standing, for her two sons. She ends up working in a specialist club where blood and gore is the name of the game or the illusion of gore. Christina gives a solid job as the mother pushed to her limits. (6/10)
Iain De Caestecker: Bones is the eldest son of Billy’s who is stripping abandoned houses for a chance to make extra money for his family. By doing this he ends up crossing paths with the dangerous Bully all while trying to start a romance with Rat. Iain comes from nowhere to stand next to this elite cast. (6/10)
Saoirse Ronan: Rat is the neighbor and friend of Bones who start looking into a way out of the town together, as they look for a new start on a life that really isn’t going anywhere. Saoirse seems to be wasted in this supporting role because she meant to be leading films now. (6/10)
Matt Smith: Bully is the man who believes he is the boss of the town, he is very dangerous and will hurt anyone who gets involved in his business. He starts targeting Bones and all the people he is close to after he steals from him. Matt breaks out of his good guy persona he has from Doctor Who to be the highlight of the film. (7/10)
Ben Mendelsohn: Dave is the bank manager who pushes Billy into a life that she doesn’t want to be involved in to make sure she keeps the family home. He manages to get his hold over Billy just so he can get what he wants. Ben gives a solid job as the creepy character but never gets enough time to show just how far he will go. (6/10)
Eva Mendes: Cat is the manager at the club, who has to look after the woman in the club. She also tests them to see how far they can push their performances. Eva does a solid job in this small supporting role. (6/10)
Support Cast: Lost River is a film that the support cast have to come off almost as the people’s actions rather than the main characters actually do anything bad.
Director Review: Ryan Gosling – Ryan does try to give his own personal touch to the film because it is shot in a way I haven’t seen before but parts do get lost in the story where he is trying to hard with the visuals. (5/10)
Mystery: Lost River has a mystery side with how the town ended up under water but it got solved easily. (3/10)
Thriller: Lost River you do start to wonder what will happen but when nothing much does it falls slightly flat. (4/10)
Settings: Lost River creates a very real small town that is falling apart which comes off very effective for the film. (9/10)
Suggestion: Lost River is one to try, I do feel people will enjoy this more than I did but I am not sure how much. (Try It)
Best Part: Setting.
Worst Part: Very Slow.
Believability: No (0/10)
Chances of Tears: No (0/10)
Chances of Sequel: No
Post Credits Scene: No
Oscar Chances: No
Runtime: 1 Hour 35 Minutes
Overall: Lost River is a very slow film that never really gets into gear.
Rating
