Lost River (2014)

A single mother is swept into a dark underworld, while her teenage son discovers a road that leads him to a secret underwater town.

Director:

Ryan Gosling

Writer:

Ryan Gosling

Stars:

Christina Hendricks, Iain De Caestecker, Matt Smith

2 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Christina Hendricks	...	Billy
Iain De Caestecker	...	Bones
Saoirse Ronan	...	Rat
Matt Smith	...	Bully
Ben Mendelsohn	...	Dave
Eva Mendes	...	Cat
Reda Kateb	...	Cab Driver
Barbara Steele	...	Grandma
Landyn Stewart	...	Franky
Rob Zabrecky	...	MC
Shannon Plumb	...	Fanny
Torrey Wigfield	...	Face
Misty Robinette	...	Misty
Holly Schlegel	...	Holly
Thomas McDonald	...	Skip (as ''Skip' Thomas Pierre McDonald')

Storyline

"Lost River" is a dark fairy tale about love, family and the fight for survival in the face of danger. In the virtually abandoned city of Lost River, Billy (Christina Hendricks), a single mother of two, is led into a macabre underworld in her quest to save her childhood home and hold her family together. Her teenage son Bones (Iain De Casestecker) discovers a mystery about the origins of Lost River that triggers his curiosity and sets into motion an unexpected journey that will test his limits and the limits of those he loves.

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Plot Keywords:

retro | underwater scene | curse | house of horrors | sadism | 

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for disturbing violent images, language and some sexual content

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 April 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

How to Catch a Monster

Filming Locations:

Detroit, Michigan, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$20,828, 12 April 2015, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$43,282, 26 April 2015

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bold Films, Marc Platt Productions, Phantasma

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min 112 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS Datasat

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Thomas McDonald, the actor who plays 'Skip' (the man leaving the area near the beginning of the film), is/was a real life resident of the now sparsely populated shooting location in Detroit.

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Goofs

Bones tries to sell copper tubing he scrapped from a house to a scrap metal collector for $100. Copper only goes for about $2.00 a pound so he really wouldn't have gotten much more than that. However, Bones says to the collector, "There's about a hundred dollars worth in the bag!" He's not referring to the single pipe which he pulls out and hands to the collector; he's referring to the bag's entire contents. Given the size of the bag, and the amount he stuffed in there, it's conceivable that he has roughly 50 lbs. of scrap copper to sell.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Franky: [Franky walks out of his house mumbling to himself] I'm gonna have some soup. I'm gonna go eat dinner. Come on, I just wanna eat dinner.

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Crazy Credits

There is a short scene after the credits in which the street lights switch off again.

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Connections

References Enter the Void (2009)

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Soundtracks

Bullytown
Written by Johnny Jewel
Performed by Johnny Jewel, featuring Matt Smith

User Reviews

Amazing directorial debut from Ryan Gosling, but not for everyone.

Most famous actors rely heavily on the production team during their directorial debuts and aren't very involved in the directing process. Last year, Angelina Jolie truly proved this with her movie Unbroken (actually her second film as a director though). A high budget WW2 film that Jolie clearly didn't put much effort into. It feels like the whole idea was just given to her when she called her agent and stated that she would like to direct a new movie. It is also not uncommon to see actors casting themselves in their directorial debuts, such as Zach Braff in Garden State. Lost River, is the weirdest directorial debut you'll ever see from an actor.

I've always liked Ryan Gosling. He picks his movies carefully and works great with "different" directors like Nicolas Winding Refn and Derek Cianfrance. Lost River is probably the strangest film in recent years. It is hard to explain what it is about so I'm not going to talk about that in this review.

The movie is very similar to most David Lynch films, especially Mulholland Drive. Therefore, one of the best things about Lost River is actually the cinematography, it helps to create the mysterious experience. I'm a very big fan of thrillers which don't explain everything to the viewer, but I know most people aren't. And that's why many will dislike this movie for what it is. With that being said, if you hate to re-watch films and want simple story lines, Lost River is not what you should be watching.

I really appreciate all the effort Ryan Gosling has put into this movie. It is risky to make a film like Lost River these days, and I'm glad Gosling was willing to take that risk to show his trademark. It is notable that he actually made the movie himself and didn't rely on the producers. Fans of David Lynch, Nicolas Winding Refn and David Cronenberg will surely have a good time with Lost River. I'm looking forward to Gosling's next feature, and can't wait to re-watch this film.