Name: Lost River (2015)
IMDb: link to IMDb
Genres: Horror Country of Origin: USA.
Cast: Christina Hendricks as Billy, Iain De Caestecker as Bones, Saoirse Ronan as Rat, Matt Smith as Bully, Eva Mendes as Cat, Ben Mendelsohn as Dave, Redo Kateb as Cab Driver, Barbara Stello.
Written and directed by: Ryan Gosling.
The Three Acts:
The initial tableaux: The film has two locations. One is Lost River, a more or less country version of Detroit: jobs are in short supply, law enforcement is non-existent, salvaging copper is a dangerous way to make money, and the gangster Bully kills anyone who opposes him. Billy has two children. One is Bones, who salvaged copper at the wrong time, and is on Bully's extermination list; the other is Frankie, who is a bit past toddler. Bones and Rat become friends. Bones tries to find the origins of Lost River's problems.
In order to keep her house, Billy takes a job at a house of horrors (with plenty of simulated gore and mayhem) and starts to adapt to it with Cat's help. The bank arranged (well, extorted) that; her loan officer runs the house of horrors.
Delineation of conflicts: Bully wants to keep his little empire of fear and hate. Bones wants to figure out what all was drowned when the river of 'Lost River' was dammed (not damned...or was it?). Billy would like to keep her house, but also escape from the bank's coercion. She listens to the monologues of the cab driver who takes her to the fun house. Bones is supposed to watch over Frankie while Billy is at work; his failures to do that cause substantial trouble.
Resolution: Law of the jungle crossed with politics of scarcity yields a dreary downward spiral. Is there any upside possible?
One line summary: Life is difficult, then it gets worse.
Statistics:
a. Cinematography: 3/10 It takes real determination to make something that looks so shabby with modern equipment. Lens flare, stupid filters, so many frames with over 90% darkness, poor focus, lousy depth of field, shooting through out-of-focus moving objects, and mediocre framing are some of the problems. This movie reminds me of the visual wasteland of the deeply terrible Only God Forgives (2013), another Gosling project.
b. Sound: 0/10 I quit listening after about 30 minutes of 100. The subtitles seemed sufficient and much more enjoyable.
c. Acting: 0/10 The direction and screenplay defeat acting. My previous experience watching Ms Hendricks was from Mad Men, where I liked her acting. This film made me re-think that. Saoirse Ronan (How I Live Now (2013), The Host (2013), Violet and Daisy (2012)) is high on my deal breaker list.
d. Screenplay: 0/10 As dreary, vile, and pointless as Only God Forgives or Stay (2005).
Final rating: 1/10
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