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Lost River
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Ryan Gosling
Written by	Ryan Gosling
Produced by	Marc Platt Ryan Gosling Adam Siegel Michel Litvak David Lancaster
Starring	Christina Hendricks Saoirse Ronan Iain De Caestecker Matt Smith Eva Mendes Ben Mendelsohn
Cinematography	Benoît Debie
Edited by	Valdís Óskarsdóttir Nico Leunen
Music by	Johnny Jewel
Production companies	Marc Platt Productions Phantasma Films Bold Films
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release dates	May 20, 2014 (2014-05-20) (Cannes) April 10, 2015 (2015-04-10) (United States)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$615,500

Lost River is a 2014 American fantasy thriller film written, co-produced, and directed by Ryan Gosling, in his feature directorial debut. The film stars Christina Hendricks, Saoirse Ronan, Iain De Caestecker, Matt Smith, Ben Mendelsohn, Barbara Steele, and Eva Mendes.

Principal photography began in Detroit on May 6, 2013. The film premiered in competition in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, and was released in the United States on April 10, 2015.

Plot

Single mother Billy lives in a rapidly crumbling Detroit neighborhood with her sons: teenager Bones and toddler Franky. Franky is adored by both but are distant from each other.

Bones spends his time salvaging copper piping from nearby abandoned houses while avoiding the vicious local criminal Bully, who wants to monopolise it. When Bully catches him taking piping, he abandons it and flees. Later, Bones reclaims it from Bully's hiding place and escapes from his sidekick, Face.

Billy meets with the banker Dave regarding the predatory loan the previous bank manager talked her into, for her grandmother's house. Unemployed, she cannot repay the bank, so Dave offers her a job, without explaining what it is.

A crew begins tearing down the vacant houses in the neighborhood. Along with Bones, Billy, and Franky, three of the few remaining residents are Rat, her grandmother, and her pet rat, Nick. Rat's grandmother repeatedly watches her old wedding video, mourning her husband, who died while constructing a dam.

Bones discovers an overgrown road that leads under the lake. While hanging out with Rat, he learns there was a town where the lake is, flooded to create the reservoir. Rat believes they must bring a "beast" from the underwater town to break the "curse" plaguing their neighborhood.

Dave's job offer leads Billy to a cabaret downtown. Driven there by a friendly taxi driver, she sees Cat's show upon entering. The show's appeal is a gory "murder" where Cat ostensibly gets stabbed multiple times and sprays her "blood" all over the delighted audience. Billy meets Cat backstage, who shows her where they make the most money: in the basement. There, women stay in locked plastic "shells" while men do whatever they want in their presence.

Rat invites Bones out, they go dancing at an abandoned high school and imply they would leave town together if necessary. Later, in a convenience store, they run into Bully and Face, whose lips Bully cut off after he lets Bones escape. Bones hides from them, and to protect him, Rat accepts a ride home from Bully, who later walks her to her front door. He asks to see Nick, who he then brutally kills in front of her.

Billy must take Franky to work with her because Bones is out with Rat. For her performance, she makes it look like she is cutting off her face, which excites the audience. Billy later sits with Dave, the cabaret's host, and performs a song. He takes her and Franky home and hits on her but stops when he sees Bones nearby.

Bones drops Billy off at work one night and sees the nature of her work. Unable to steal copper anymore to help financially, he plans to break the aforementioned "curse." Leaving Franky with Rat, he goes into the river to cut the head off a dinosaur statue. Meanwhile, Face sets Rat's house on fire and then dies in the flames. Rat cannot rouse and rescue her catatonic grandmother, so leaves with Franky.

Having retrieved the dinosaur's head, Bones comes ashore to find his car set on fire. Bully tries to kill him with his car, but at the last moment, Bones steps aside and throws the dinosaur head through Bully's windshield, causing him to crash against the burning car. Bully flies headfirst into the lake, and drowns.

At work, Billy is sealed in a "shell" while Dave performs a sexual dance routine around her. Despite having a button that locks the shell from the inside, he releases the lock with a remote. Billy steps out of the chamber, stabs Dave in the ear, and flees.

Billy returns to find her sons and Rat sitting on their house steps while Rat's home burns. With the help of the taxi driver, the four of them leave the neighborhood with the dinosaur head strapped to the top of the taxi, concluding the film.

Rat’s home continues to burn in the background as the credits roll. The background fades to black after a minute, but red smoke from the fire remains in the background.

Cast

• Christina Hendricks as Billy
• Iain De Caestecker as Bones
• Saoirse Ronan as Rat
• Matt Smith as Bully
• Ben Mendelsohn as Dave
• Eva Mendes as Cat
• Reda Kateb as Cab Driver
• Barbara Steele as Grandmother
• Landyn Joseph Stewart as Franky
• Rob Zabrecky as MC
• Torrey Wigfield as Face

Production

The film was originally titled How to Catch a Monster. In May 2013, scenes were shot at the Masonic Temple in Detroit, Michigan.

Music

The musical score for Lost River was composed by Johnny Jewel.

The first official tease of the film's music came on February 3, 2015, when Chromatics issued a single for their song, "Yes (Love Theme from Lost River)", which is featured in the film. Jewel released the soundtrack album on his own label, Italians Do It Better, on March 30, 2015. The soundtrack features music from the score, as well as songs from the film by Glass Candy, Chromatics, Desire, and Symmetry, as well as songs sung by Saoirse Ronan and Ben Mendelsohn, who star in the film. The song "Tell Me", sung by Ronan, was featured in the first episode of the 2017 television series Riverdale and in the eighth episode of the third season of Killing Eve. The soundtrack was released on CD, digitally, and as a limited 3xLP on purple vinyl.

Release

The film premiered on May 20, 2014, at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was met with a mixed reception from the audience. Warner Bros. Pictures, the U.S. distributor of the film, was subsequently reported to be considering selling its distribution rights to another studio. The film was released simultaneously in select theaters in the United States and through video on demand platforms on April 10, 2015.

Lost River was part of the SXSW Film Festival in March 2015 in Austin, Texas.

An airing of the film by the Asian FX network on February 13, 2017, led to Indonesia's Broadcasting Commission giving the network a five-day sanction from April 10–14 where it was prohibited for broadcasting due to unapproved sensitive content.

Critical reception

Lost River received mixed reviews at the time of its release. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 30%, based on 76 reviews, with an average rating of 4.60/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Lost River suggests that debuting writer-director Ryan Gosling may have a bright future as a filmmaker, but it doesn't hold together well enough to recommend on its own merit." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 42 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian stated that the film is "colossally indulgent, shapeless, often fantastically and unthinkingly offensive and at all times insufferably conceited". Kate Muir of The Sunday Times described the film as "a lurid mash up of Lynch, Refn and Edward Hopper. In a bad way." Robbie Collin of The Telegraph called the film "dumbfoundingly poor" and stated that Gosling "confuses 'making film' with 'assembling Tumblr of David Lynch & Mario Bava gifs'". French film critics grant real curiosity to this first movie, while identifying certain weaknesses.

By 2016, the film had begun to receive a more positive opinion from fans of the surreal fantasy genre.

References

1. Battan, Carrie (July 23, 2013). "Johnny Jewel Talks About His Upcoming Film Projects, Including Ryan Gosling's Directorial Debut". Pitchfork. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
2. "Lost River (2015)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved October 9, 2021.
3. Perlman, Jake (May 19, 2014). "'Lost River' teaser: First look at fantasy thriller from Ryan Gosling". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved October 9, 2021.
4. "'How To Catch A Monster' filming locations in Detroit on May 17, 20, & 21 in Detroit, Plus more fan photos!". On Location Vacations. May 17, 2013. Archived from the original on June 7, 2013. Retrieved August 13, 2013.
5. "'Lost River' Soundtrack Released". Film Music Reporter. March 30, 2015. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
6. Lantinen, Christopher (May 11, 2015). "'Lost River' soundtrack coming to vinyl". Modern Vinyl. Archived from the original on September 21, 2015. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
7. "2014 Official Selection". Cannes. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
8. Hammond, Pete (May 20, 2014). "Cannes: Ryan Gosling Faces A Critical Firing Squad After Directing Debut; Steve Carell Talks Oscar". Deadline Hollywood. This is the first film this year where I heard boos, but to be fair there were some cheers mixed in. One wag called it 'choos'.
9. ^ McNary, Dave (December 29, 2014). "Ryan Gosling's 'Lost River' Will Get Day-and-Date VOD Release". Variety. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
10. Fleming, Mike Jr. (May 21, 2014). "Cannes: Warner Bros. Talking To Indie Distributors About Ryan Gosling's 'Lost River'". Deadline Hollywood.
11. Han, Angie (February 3, 2015). "Lost River Trailer: Ryan Gosling Makes His Directorial Debut". /Film. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
12. Barton, Steve (February 3, 2015). "Ryan Gosling's Lost River Trailer Found; Film to Screen at 2015 SXSW". Dread Central. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
13. "SXSW Film Festival 2015 Lineup". SXSW. Archived from the original on May 25, 2015. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
14. "KPI Jatuhkan Sanksi pada Saluran Asing FX". Archived from the original on November 30, 2018. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
15. "Lost River (2015)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 29, 2024.
16. "Lost River". Metacritic. Retrieved April 10, 2015.
17. Bradshaw, Peter (May 20, 2014). "Cannes review: Lost River – Ryan Gosling flounders with directorial debut". The Guardian. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
18. "Lost River reviews roundup: Cannes pours scorn on Ryan Gosling". The Guardian. May 20, 2014. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
19. Adams, Sam (May 20, 2014). "Ryan Gosling's Directorial Debut, 'Lost River,' Is a 'Film Maudit Crapocalypse'". IndieWire. Archived from the original on May 5, 2016. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
20. Murat, Pierre (May 21, 2016). "Lost River - Film de Ryan Gosling (USA, 2014)". Télérama.
21. Marques, Sandrine (April 5, 2015). "" Lost River " : la ville fantôme de Ryan Gosling". Le Monde.
22. Sherman, Isaiah (January 13, 2016). "Before "HAP AND LEONARD": Top 5 Christina Hendricks Movies". Sundance TV. Archived from the original on March 8, 2016. Retrieved March 22, 2016.

External links

• Lost River at IMDb
• Lost River at Rotten Tomatoes

• 2014 films
• 2014 directorial debut films
• 2014 fantasy films
• 2014 independent films
• 2014 thriller films
• 2010s fantasy thriller films
• American fantasy thriller films
• Bold Films films
• Films produced by Marc E. Platt
• Films set in Detroit
• Films shot in Detroit
• Warner Bros. films
• 2010s English-language films
• 2010s American films
• Films scored by Johnny Jewel
• English-language independent films
• English-language fantasy thriller films