LOST

US, 2004, 90 minutes, Colour.
Dean Cain, Ashley Scott, Danny Trejo, Justin Henry.
Directed by Darren Lemke.

Lost is quite an intriguing thriller with quite a number of twists. Audience sympathy is initially with Dean Cain as he leaves Santa Barbara for a rendezvous and finds himself lost in the Nevada desert. He tries to get directory help but finds himself in dead ends. What is revealed is a robbery gone wrong and criminals out to find Cain as well as the money.

Keeps the interest.

1.A road thriller? The complexity of the plot? Audience interest, identification?

2.The Santa Barbara robbery? The surveillance, TV treatment? The Nevada roads, landscapes? A state to be lost in?

3.The structure of the film: Jeremy, his driving, being lost in Nevada? The information about the robbery? The flashbacks implicating him? The phone calls to his wife? The phone calls to the directory operator? The phone calls from Chester, from Archer? The cumulative effect of his driving, being pursued, the trooper? Trying to find directions, dead ends? The flashbacks to his childhood?

4.The character of Jeremy, the opening and his losing his job, his being desperate? The drive, audience puzzle? The long dialogues with Judy, the operator? His attitudes? The map? His discussions with his wife, concern about his son? Her knowing about the robbery? The plan to get to the plane and fly away? His flashbacks and the explanation about himself? An ordinary man, overspending, desperate? His place in the bank, the plan with Chester, the robbers? His filling his own bag? His transferring the money to plastic bags, throwing the contents out the window? His determination, his being upset? The suspicions of the trooper? Going to the house, the deaf lady watching the minister on television? Taking the truck? His continued determination, Judy encouraging him? The disillusionment, her being in the pay of Archer? Archer at the airport and the final confrontation? Final decisions?

5.The device of having the tape playing in the car, advice about success, twelve steps? The captions throughout the film about safe driving, cautions? As illustrated by Jeremy?

6.Judy, her character, her voice, the directions, her being in the pay of Archer? The amount of money, her sympathy because of Jeremy’s son and wife, watching them on television?

7.Jeremy’s wife, her concern, desperate phone calls?

8.Chester, participating in the robbery, getting away, taken by Archer, the phone calls, his death? Jeremy’s desperately trying to phone him?

9.The trooper, watching Jeremy – and the surprise of his being found dead? Archer’s claim?

10.Road suspense, suspense and uncertainty, Jeremy and audiences being able to identify, if not with him, with his being lost and his anxiety?