Lost River

Ryan Gosling throws a lot at his first film as director but Lost River is a sign he has found a single discipline which can accommodate many of his scattershot tendencies. He does not, though, find a place for his own musical output in the avowedly arty Lost River.

Instead, Lost River is overflowing with overt and less-direct cinematic references which position it as Gosling’s love letter to film. Casting Barbara Steele evidences an appreciation of Italian and Euro-horror in general. George Franju’s Eyes Without a Face crops up. Sections of composer Johnny Jewel’s soundtrack music echo Goblin’s for Dario Argento’s Susperia. Ben Mendelsohn’s Dave nods to Frank from David Lynch’s Blue Velvet. The use of the song “Deep Purple” is also Lynchian. Terrence Malick and Gosling’s Drive and Only God Forgives director Nicolas Winding Refn are acknowledged in the credits. Presumably, the choice of a multi-national cast was deliberate.

But Lost River is more than a cinematic smorgasbord. Just as the films of, say, Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, and Peter Strickland don’t hide their influences, Gosling obviously knows his stuff and is not afraid to show his hand. Lost River – despite being about 15 minutes too long – brings all this together to emerge with a singular voice concerned with the human spirit enduring the most testing circumstances. (Pictured right, Christina Hendricks as Billy.)

The film is set in the titular conurbation. The city is a wasteland where occupied homes pepper vacant plots, and houses are being demolished after foreclosures. Although current-day Detroit is Lost River's proxy, the film is set in an era where the office of a bank has no computers, the only phones are landlines and people watch VHS tapes – this is some time in the 1980s. Bones (Iain De Caestecker) lives with his mother Billy (Christina Hendricks – previously in Drive with Gosling, and a shoo-in as a David Lynch-type female lead here). He has a young sister and tries to find scrap metal to sell, which leads him into the path of local bully boy Bully (Matt Smith, pictured, below left). Billy is broke and cannot pay for their house. At her bank, the charismatic, creepy Dave suggests she work for him at a night club he runs. The lead performer there is Cat (Eva Mendes – in part channelling aspects of Héctor Babenco’s Kiss of the Spider Woman). Living across the street from the family home is Rat (Saoirse Ronan), who cares for her mute grandmother (Steele).

About the power of family, Lost River is also surreal, violent and occasionally oblique. Apart from an outline of Lost River’s past history, little of why this world has become what it is is explained. Dave says he has passed through many of these imploding cities. Bones is told to “get out of here while you can” and “head south ‘til you see some trees.” He stays.

As Bones, De Caestecker is a little colourless. Although obviously having a whale of a time as Bully, Smith is, like the choice of the character’s name, too broad and seems influenced by Happy Mondays' Bez when he was at his edgiest. The film is dominated by its astonishing settings, style, and the luminous Hendricks and Mendelsohn's nuttiness. Some tightening would have made it more impactful. Scenes could have been shortened, especially a set piece in a supermarket where the initial tension evaporates after it goes on so long.

Nonetheless, Lost River is easy to surrender to, its world painted with verve. But there are a few too many ingredients and it treads the fine line between being rich and bursting at the seams. Make sure to see Gosling's fantasia without having gorged on anything beforehand.

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Overleaf: watch the trailer for Lost River

Watch the trailer for Lost River