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R_Redbeard
I'm a big fan of fine cinematography, traditionalist narratives, revolutionary narratives, black comedy, post-apocalyptia, weird sci-fi, occultism, sexual perversion, the unusual and the glorification of violence. Also, Australia for some reason. Never been there..
I hate most older Italian horror, Giallo, and most of their spaghetti westerns besides the main 3 or 4. *beep* Italians, don't get me started.
I don't watch cartoons. I don't play video games.
We probably can't be friends but if you'd like to meet up for casual sex please call me at the following number: 911.
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Lost River (2014)
A tour of the lovely Detroit area. Bring the kids.
Well hey, I think I'll write a review of this for some reason.
First off, this has nothing to do with David Lynch. If you see a quirky film and automatically need to compare it to something from Lynch you should get out more. See more films, maybe even leave your basement for longer than a few hours at a time. Lost River tells a pretty straight forward story with some darkly humorous oddities thrown in. It contains human actors, buildings, and takes place on Earth so I guess in that regard I can understand the Lynch comparisons.
If you don't know, this is Ryan Gosling's debut as writer and director. The score is from Johnny Jewel (Drive), the cinematography is by Benoît Debie (Irreversible, Enter the Void), production design by Beth Mickle (Drive, Only God Forgives), set decoration from Erick Donaldson (Drive) and costume designs by Erin Benach (Blue Valentine, Drive, The Place Beyond the Pines). You should be able to see the theme here...
The look of the film is pretty much an amalgamation of the look of every film Gosling has starred in. Debie's cinematography is fantastic as usual and slightly experimental at times. It is something that should be seen on the big screen, if possible. (There will probably be no one there so all the better.) The look of the film reminds me of anything from Refn, the neonscapes of Debie/Noé and even some 70s Italian horror. The set of crumbling Detroit brings to mind Only Lovers Left Alive, Out of the Furnace, Killing Them Softly and any film that relies heavily on economically depressed areas. Lost River relies on them even more heavily...
The score is great and while it is similar to Drive there are some 80s horror vibes going on also.
Some of the main characters in the film are played by Christina Hendricks (Drive), Iain De Caestecker (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Saoirse Ronan (The Grand Budapest Hotel), Matt Smith (Doctor Who), Ben Mendelsohn (The Place Beyond the Pines) and icon of Italian horror: Barbara Steele. I assume many of the other people featured in the film are non-actor residents of Detroit.
The acting here is not going to win anyone any awards. Christina Hendricks has a great set of tits and they should be on my face 24 hours a day but that doesn't mean she can act. Many of the delivered lines seemed phoned in. There really isn't much character development but that obviously wasn't a focal point. Most seemed liked slaves to the words they were suppose to speak, besides Matt Smith. The non-actors were obviously non-actors. At first these flaws were annoying but as the film went on I learned that I was taking it all a little more seriously than I should've been. The acting and usage of non-actors recalls the weirdness of My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done, Stroszek, Gummo, Under the Skin, etc. but it's much more tame.
The tale itself is your standard "poor- family-living-in-the- wasteland-of-Detriot- stripping-copper-and-working-at-underground-death-fetish -clubs-to-make-ends-meet-while-simultaneously-trying- to-escape-the-brutal-rule-of-an- urban-redneck-gangster- and-the-sexual-pressure-of-an-insurance-agent" story. You know, normal sh*t. But seriously folks, like I said before it's all told rather linearly and only those with severe brain damage will have a hard time following along. There are plenty of abnormal things thrown in but they seem damn normal when put up against a lot of the films by the bigger named art-house and experimental directors. There is nothing wrong with that. Also, this is not really a fantasy or even all that surreal nor a horror film. It may contain elements of other genres but it's mainly drama and dark black oddball humor.
Honestly, I didn't like it that much at first but I think the key to enjoying it is to leave your critical eye and the chip on your shoulder at the door. It is what it is and Gosling obviously had a fun time creating it. This is much better than say Spring Breakers and a lot of the other popular art-house films from recent years. I was going to give it a 6 before I was done with it but it at least deserves a 6.5-7. I'm sure I'll watch it again, sooner rather than later.
(I guess I'm suppose to make an 'ultimate comparison' so here it goes: If Nicolas Winding Refn was forced to watch The Salton Sea for 14 days straight (A Clockwork Orange style) and then told to have a re-imagining of Gummo done by the end of the same month he would probably end up with something like Lost River. Or maybe not.)