I caught Ryan Goslings feature Lost River at Austins SXSW, and it ended up one of the best films of the festival. Theres much to come on Shock, including a full review and video sit down with Gosling and stars Iain de Caestecker and Saoirse Ronan, but suffice to say the film is unsettling and playful in its surreal, very macabre spectacle. A lot of its more savage critical response, while not doubting its earnestness, feels like it might come from the wrong frame of reference. Yes, Gosling is clearly influenced by collaborator Nicolas Winding Refn and the likes of Lynch, but this is also successfully recalling and utilizing the tools of something else: Eurohorror.
Lost River, with its colorful, art sensibilities is both beautiful and horrifying, its camera exploring decay, destruction and blood in an urban wasteland. Its super duper style heavy, something highlighted in the below featurette, which runs down the cast and many of the films stunning moments, from intimate handled to big, fiery visuals, to a stunning stage show featuring Christina Hendricks face peel.
The film 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, 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 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.
Lost River is out in select theaters and VOD on April 10th.
