Lost River (2015)

All non-Nolan related film, tv, and streaming discussions.
Posts: 380
Joined: December 2011
Location: Scotland
Apologies for the double post but The Telegraph's Robbie Collin has tweeted his verdict of the film (I'll spoiler tag it):
Lost River: Ryan Gosling confuses 'making film' with 'assembling Tumblr of David Lynch & Mario Bava gifs'. Dumb-foundingly poor

User avatar
Posts: 17534
Joined: May 2011
Alex Billington ‏@firstshowing 11m
In all my years at Cannes, I've never been lost in a nightmare like this. So props to Gosling for originality, but it's just too fucked up.
olilyttelton ‏@olilyttelton 4m
LOST RIVER: Blue Velvet Of The Southern Wild. A pile-up of Gosling's influences & ideas: not good, as such, but not boring #cannes
Jessica Kiang ‏@jessicakiang 1m
Lost River a cacophony of meaningless motifs stumbling round in service of a plot best summed up by "woman decides to move house"
Matt Risley ‏@spliggle 2m
So Lost River is far from the disaster many are expecting but it’s certainly a tumbledryer of influences and ideas. #Cannes
Jordan Hoffman ‏@jhoffman 17m
NW Refn taught his padawan Ryan Gosling well. If you like that sort of thing you'll like LOST RIVER. Personally, I'm mixed. #cannes2014

User avatar
Posts: 3855
Joined: June 2010
Jordan Hoffman ‏@jhoffman 15m
NW Refn taught his padawan Ryan Gosling well. If you like that sort of thing you'll like LOST RIVER. Personally, I'm mixed. #cannes2014

gregoryellwood ‏@HitFixGregory 14m
It doesn't all work but Ryan Gosling swings for the fences with #LostRiver and hits something gorgeous. An unexpected vision. #cannes2014

gregoryellwood ‏@HitFixGregory 13m
#LostRiver might be less commercial than #UnderTheSkin. Curious if WB will actually release it stateside or try and find smaller distrib.

Scott Foundas ‏@foundasonfilm 12m
Gosling's LOST RIVER a first-rate folie de grandeur. Echoes of Argento, Korine, Lynch, Malick in a tedious allegory of Detroit as ghost town

gregoryellwood ‏@HitFixGregory 12m
Whatever you read on #LostRiver just know almost every frame is gorgeous. Movie will make David Lynch smile. #Cannes2014

David Ketchum ‏@KetchumAtMovies 11m
Gosling's LOST RIVER - I would have thrown fruit if I had some. Like WTF was this? #Cannes2014

gregoryellwood ‏@HitFixGregory 9m
All being said def some walkouts. Absolutely not for everyone. #LostRiver #Cannes2014

Ken Adams ‏@TaybackX 9m
WB has some big cojones in distributing LOST RIVER, very brave of them. #Cannes2014

erickohn ‏@erickohn 8m
Ryan Gosling's directorial debut LOST RIVER is like the residue of a collision between GUMMO & TWIN PEAKS. No, really. #cannes

Peter Howell ‏@peterhowellfilm 8m
LOST RIVER: Unholy Motors. Gosling's Motown fantasy blitzes eye & mind. Carax/Lynch honored, audience baffled, but that's OK. #Cannes2014

Be(n) Croll ‏@becroll 12m
LOST RIVER: the ultimate student film, made by industry pros. Lynch, Argento & Refn pulse through it. Moments of madcap mania. Pure homage

Be(n) Croll ‏@becroll 9m
There are 18 amazing music videos in LOST RIVER, though not 1 cohesive film. But that imagery. Ooh baby!

Ken Adams ‏@TaybackX 8m
I actually really really liked it. So wicked and weird. Will make Refn, Gaspar and @DAVID_LYNCH proud. #Cannes2014

olilyttelton ‏@olilyttelton 9m
LOST RIVER: Blue Velvet Of The Southern Wild. A pile-up of Gosling's influences & ideas: not good, as such, but not boring #cannes

Total Film ‏@totalfilm 7m
Intriguing imagery/performances & bold influences, but one thing’s clear; Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut isn’t for the mainstream. #Cannes

Ken Adams ‏@TaybackX 8m
It's got its problems, but damn does Ryan Gosling nail that tone. Dude's got the potential to go far as a director. #Cannes2014

Ken Adams ‏@TaybackX 5m
And I love the "what lies beneath the surface of pic-perfect American suburbia" winks it gives to TWIN PEAKS and DONNIE DARKO. #Cannes2014

Jessica Kiang ‏@jessicakiang 7m
Lost River a cacophony of meaningless motifs stumbling round in service of a plot best summed up by "woman decides to move house"

Wesley Morris ‏@Wesley_Morris 17m
If a $200 haircut and $900 shades were given lots of money to defecate on Detroit, the result would be Ryan Gosling's directing debut.

User avatar
Posts: 13944
Joined: June 2009
Location: La La Land
DoubleD wrote:For people that read the script, does the new title fit the story in any way, or was the previous, and better sounding title, more appropriate?
It's a relevant title.

Posts: 238
Joined: November 2013
It's very Tim Burton.

User avatar
Posts: 43129
Joined: May 2010
Monicabbm wrote:Wesley Morris ‏@Wesley_Morris 17m
If a $200 haircut and $900 shades were given lots of money to defecate on Detroit, the result would be Ryan Gosling's directing debut.
:lol:

The actual reviews seem to be quite harsh-

http://www.hitfix.com/motion-captured/r ... ned-beauty (C+)

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/ ... h-20140520 (C-)

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/ma ... an-gosling (2/5)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film ... lousy.html (1/5)

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review ... iew-705908 (mixed)

http://thefilmstage.com/reviews/cannes- ... ost-river/ (D)

I knew this was not going to be for everyone but at least was hoping it would have some big supporters which there doesn't seem to be yet. Completely shocked WB's picked this up, the film seems to have zero mainstream appeal and not even be good. Did they just do it to get on Gosling's good side for future projects?

Posts: 238
Joined: November 2013
Yeah, Warner Bros. said we'll allow you to direct and in return you star in a bunch of our projects.

User avatar
Posts: 6087
Joined: June 2012
Location: Colorado
http://www.totalfilm.com/news/cannes-20 ... ion-review
Not only is it a whole new craft to learn and discover, but with acting comes celebrity - and with celebrity comes expectation.

And when it comes to Ryan Gosling, he's pretty much one of the biggest famouses on the planet right now, meaning his directorial (and writing) debut Lost River is subject to more pressure than most.

Thankfully, while it definitely suffers from a host of 'first-time director' problems, it's not the utter disaster many were expecting (and likely hoping for) either.

Set in a small dilapidated backwater town battered by America's economic collapse, it follows the story of a white collar family struggling to make enough money to survive. Bones (Iain De Caestecker) spends his days stripping copper from abandoned buildings and pining over next door neighbour Rat (Saoirse Ronan), while his mother Billy (Christina Hendricks) works as a waitress in a dubious, stripper-y bar to put food on the table for their toddler Franky.

As their neighbours' homes are slowly torn down around them and their own debts mount up, Billy ventures into a dangerous, bizarre and potentially lucrative world of a member's club whose clientele are as attracted to violence as theatre, while Bones angers the local psychotic hardnut Bully (Matt Smith) in his mission to salvage copper.

As things get increasingly bleaker, Bones questions whether a local legend about the whole town being cursed is actually true, and if there's any way to reverse their fortunes.

From the off, Lost River is a twisted, weird fairytale of a story that weighs heavily on a 'death of the American dream' metaphor. More pressingly, it's a tumbledryer of ideas and influences that throws a whole load of familiar imagery at the screen. Film fans will notice obvious nods to Gosling mentors Nicolas Winding Refn and Derek Cianfrance, as well as David Lynch and Dario Argento.

It's a heady flurry and jumble of ideas, and not all of them stick, with moments of horror, fantasy and down-trodden realist drama all vying for room to breathe.

But there are definite moments of wonder - the score is achingly beautiful, while the performances are all strong. And even if the visual parts are greater than the whole, Gosling has a knack for the iconic image.

All in all, Lost River feels like a student film with an A-List cast. Its homages are worn so prominently on its sleeve, it's difficult to really tap into the creative identity beneath, but it's an intriguing - if not entirely successful - debut.

As a learning curve, it'll likely be a steep one, and while this is definitely not one for the mainstream, film fans are guaranteed to find a whole hell of a lot to talk about.

User avatar
Posts: 3417
Joined: April 2009
Location: Cali
Half the names stepping into Cannes Film Festival are there to show off to the rest that they are in Cannes Film Festival, one of the most famous film festivals in the world, where they will get the opportunity to see films way earlier than the audiences. Now, thinking about it, there is nothing wrong with that, but in the meantime, there is something way wrong, to just be there and know nothing much about cinema. You are telling me, everyone present at Cannes, especially when it comes to some of the critics actually know the language of arts and cinema?

I haven't seen LOST RIVER, but I've read the screenplay, which is by the way, a well written piece. Also it happens to be original. Some of these critics, now thanks to Twitter, are starting to coin their own little terms, just to make it go viral, and make name for themselves. I am sorry, but when you are coining a term, do not disrespect a critic like 'Nino Frank', who coined the term, Film Noir.

User avatar
Posts: 13944
Joined: June 2009
Location: La La Land
Rohan wrote:Half the names stepping into Cannes Film Festival are there to show off to the rest that they are in Cannes Film Festival, one of the most famous film festivals in the world, where they will get the opportunity to see films way earlier than the audiences. Now, thinking about it, there is nothing wrong with that, but in the meantime, there is something way wrong, to just be there and know nothing much about cinema. You are telling me, everyone present at Cannes, especially when it comes to some of the critics actually know the language of arts and cinema?

I haven't seen LOST RIVER, but I've read the screenplay, which is by the way, a well written piece. Also it happens to be original. Some of these critics, now thanks to Twitter, are starting to coin their own little terms, just to make it go viral, and make name for themselves. I am sorry, but when you are coining a term, do not disrespect a critic like 'Nino Frank', who coined the term, Film Noir.
Do you use google translate to post?

Post Reply