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teh b0lly!!1 · 10:45 AM

Lost River

ryan gosling's directorial debut. not really that strong a selling point for me, but i got the impression it was a weird one (can't remember who talked about it on here) so i got curious.

it tries really hard to be arty and profoud, and goes for a lot of "nice shots" visually, but it's real hard getting through this one. on my first try i managed to get through about an hour before falling asleep, but i was intrigued by what i heard about it and uncharacteristically went back and started watching again from scratch.

it makes very little sense, while simultaneously being overly simplistic and shallow in other aspects. it seems like as a piece, it's much more concerned with stitching together (not necessarily coherently) visual moments, influences, and an atmposphere (whatever that may be), rather than telling a story.

obviously there are some artists who can pull this off very well (david lynch, whom this movie shamelessly rips off , for example), but for gosling it just comes off as one step too many towards self indulgence, rather than forming an actual narrative, and not an excuse to get all your wicked shots down to tape.

the movie does boast decent performances from christina hendrix (who i assume gosling pulled his way after working with her on Drive), and both actors playing the villains, whose obscure names i can't be bothered to look up right now. one of those villains, btw, is called Bully - total rolleye, see my note about shallow writing - but is actually a pretty fucked up, weird, terrifying character. gotta give credit where credit is due.

perhaps the biggest flaw in this movie is the aimless, wandering storytelling. only upon reading the plot synopsis later on, i filled in some gaps and realized i had missed some mildly significant plot developments that simply get lost along the way, because the pacing and editing is so glacial and non compelling. it simply doesn't cease your attention when it needs to, on multiple instances - because it's either poorly conceived, poorly filmed, or poorly edited.

pretty weak overall impression. wouldn't really recommended it. stick to being an annoyingly privileged white dude with hot abs, ryan.

07-23-2016, 07:03 AM	#122
teh b0lly!!1 Braindead Location: PROWLING THE BADLANDS Posts: 17,399	Lost River ryan gosling's directorial debut. not really that strong a selling point for me, but i got the impression it was a weird one (can't remember who talked about it on here) so i got curious. it tries really hard to be arty and profoud, and goes for a lot of "nice shots" visually, but it's real hard getting through this one. on my first try i managed to get through about an hour before falling asleep, but i was intrigued by what i heard about it and uncharacteristically went back and started watching again from scratch. it makes very little sense, while simultaneously being overly simplistic and shallow in other aspects. it seems like as a piece, it's much more concerned with stitching together (not necessarily coherently) visual moments, influences, and an atmposphere (whatever that may be), rather than telling a story. obviously there are some artists who can pull this off very well (david lynch, whom this movie shamelessly rips off , for example), but for gosling it just comes off as one step too many towards self indulgence, rather than forming an actual narrative, and not an excuse to get all your wicked shots down to tape. the movie does boast decent performances from christina hendrix (who i assume gosling pulled his way after working with her on Drive), and both actors playing the villains, whose obscure names i can't be bothered to look up right now. one of those villains, btw, is called Bully - total rolleye, see my note about shallow writing - but is actually a pretty fucked up, weird, terrifying character. gotta give credit where credit is due. perhaps the biggest flaw in this movie is the aimless, wandering storytelling. only upon reading the plot synopsis later on, i filled in some gaps and realized i had missed some mildly significant plot developments that simply get lost along the way, because the pacing and editing is so glacial and non compelling. it simply doesn't cease your attention when it needs to, on multiple instances - because it's either poorly conceived, poorly filmed, or poorly edited. pretty weak overall impression. wouldn't really recommended it. stick to being an annoyingly privileged white dude with hot abs, ryan. Last edited by teh b0lly!!1 : 07-24-2016 at 10:45 AM.