LOST RIVER

US, 2014, 95 minutes, Colour.
Christina Hendricks, Iain De Caestecker, Saoirse Ronan, Matt Smith, Ben Mendelsohn, Eva Mendes, Barbara Steele, Landyn Stewart, Torry Wigfield.
Directed by Ryan Gosling.

Lost River is rather an exotic film – especially when one realises that it has been directed by actor, Ryan Gosling. It is a blend of the real and the surreal – with, perhaps, the surreal winning out, in its delineation of characters, in the situations, in its cinematic visual style, of light and darkness, shadows with sinister overtones.

The film is set in Detroit, in a dingy part of the town, a derelict house on the outskirts next to another derelict house, in the city streets, a club patronised by rather seedy men where the acts are all sadomasochistic.

The film has a very good cast with Christina Hendricks as a mother, with two sons, trying to hang on to the house they live in which was bequeathed to her but in need of a loan to keep going – with a visit to a banker, played in his sinister manner by Ben Mendelsohn, who gets the mother a job in the sleazy club, where she is coached in her acts by Eva Mendes.

In the meantime, the older son is put upon by the local bully who is not above cutting off the lips of his henchmen for not carrying out his orders properly. Next door is a young woman, played by Saoirse Ronan, who lives with her demented grandmother who watches her wedding video over and over, and lives with a pet rat. The grandmother is played by the celebrated veteran of many a horror film from the 1960s in Italy and in Britain, Barbara Steele.
The title refers to the inundation of a town to form a local reservoir and its being called Lost River, with a curse that only the head of a monster in the river will overcome the curse – which is fulfilled, ironically, at the end of the film.

Rather derided critically when it first came out, Lost River seems to be moving toward some cult status.

1. The mixed responses to the film? To Ryan Gosling as director? The negatives, later admiration and leading to a reputation as a cult film?

2. The description of neo-noir, the surreal fantasy? The blend of the real and the surreal in look, plot, characters, editing, score?

3. Ryan Gosling, his career, his first film as director?

4. The strong and varied cast? International?

5. The images of Detroit, dingy areas, inner city dingy, the derelict house, the exteriors, the street, the visual impact, light and darkness?

6. The focus on Billy, on Bones and Franky? Billy as mother, the heritage of the house, her wanting to keep it? Her relationship with her sons?

7. Bones, his age, close to Franky, stealing the copper piping, Bully and his wanting the copper, his threats, Bully seeing Bones take the copper, Bones running and leaving it, later recouping it? The threats from Face?

8. Billy, going to the bank, the issue of the loan, Dave and his attitude as banker, as man, refusing the loan? Billy wanting to keep the house, the need for the loan, the inheritance from her grandmother? The need for a job, Dave giving the card, not explaining the job, Billy going to the address, discovering it was a burlesque show?

9. The show, Cat, Dave and his presence, ownership, the clientele? The nature of the shows, sadomasochist, the MC, gory, the reaction of the audience? The make up, Cat and her help, support for Billy? Billy, the make-up, performance, the blood and the stabbings? The work in the basement, the shells, the women locked in, the men and their behaviour? Sexuality?

10. The threats to the house, marked as derelict? The effect on Billy, on the boys?

11. The character of Rat, her pet rat, Nick? Living with her grandmother? Her age, her grandmother watching the wedding video over and over? Her mind gone? Lament? Rat looking after her?

12. Brett and Bones, discovering the road leading to the lake, Rat telling the story of the town, submerged, the reservoir? The name of Lost River? The curse – and the mission to find the head of the beast to release the curse?

13. Rat and Bones, their friendship, going to the dance, Bully confronting them, Face – and Bully having cut off his lips? Subservience to Bully?

14. Bully, Rat intervening, getting the lift, going to the door, Bully and his killing Nick, the rat?

15. Billy taking Franky to work, Dave being upset, Dave and the violence, singing the song, the lift home, the confrontation by Bones?

16. Bones, discovering his mother’s work? His decision, to eliminate the curse, going to the fairground, the dinosaur, decapitating its head, finding his car on fire?

17. Face, going into Rat’s house, setting it alight, the grandmother catatonic, burnt? Rat going in to search?

18. Bully, trying to run down Bones, Bones tossing the dinosaur head, breaking the windscreen, Bully crashing into the water – and the destruction of a beast?

19. Billy, in the shell, getting out, confronting Dave, stabbing him, his bleeding?

20. The burnt house, the derelict house, Billy and her two sons and Rat, deciding to leave?