Lost River (2 Stars)

What can I write about this film? Where can I even begin? I can tell you what happens in the film, and if I wanted to give away spoilers I could even describe the whole story, scene by scene. What I can't do is explain the film's deeper meaning. I can tell you what happens, but I can't tell you why it happens. I'm sure the director wanted to say something, but I have no idea what it is.

And who is the director? It's Ryan Gosling. It's the first and so far only film that he's written and directed. He's one of Hollywood's top actors. Women love his smile and his boyish looks. But "Lost River" shows that everyone, including me, has underestimated him. What on Earth is going on inside his head?

Billy is a single mother who lives with her two sons, Bones and Franky, on the outskirts of Detroit. There's a big difference in the ages of her sons. Bones is 20-ish, while Franky isn't in school yet, probably about five. It happens. Billy's neighbourhood is dying out. People are moving away. If they have a mortgage they just stop paying and let their house be repossessed. If their house is paid off they just move away and leave it behind, because they can't sell it anyway. Weeds are growing in the middle of the road. The only two families remaining are Billy, and a girl called Rat who lives with her grandmother.

Bones makes a living from salvaging copper from abandoned houses. Now it looks like his source of income will dry up, because another young man has claimed ownership of all the scrap copper in the neighbourhood, and he has threatened to kill anyone else who takes copper.

Billy is unemployed and three months behind with her mortgage payments. She goes to her bank manager, who tells her that he will have her house demolished if she doesn't bring her payments up to date within a month. He advises her to apply for a job at a club he regularly visits. It's a club which puts on acts of women dying. It doesn't matter if it's murder or suicide, as long as there's lots of blood.

Billy manages to put on a good act that entertains the audience, but she's told that there's a way to make even more money. Women are put inside a see-through plastic case, and men are allowed to touch the case in any way they want, either stroking it or hitting it. The women are safe inside, but please tell me what sort of a man would find pleasure in something like that?

The area is called Lost River because there's a town that was sunk to make a new reservoir. Shouldn't it be called Lost Town instead? Houses, shops, churches and schools have all been submerged. There was also a dinosaur theme park in the lost town. Rat's grandfather was killed when the town was sunk, so her grandmother sits watching films about the town every day, oblivious to everything happening round about her.

There's a legend that the area is under a curse because of the way the town was submerged. According to Rat, who seems to be better informed than anyone else in the film, the curse will only be lifted if someone goes down to the town and brings back part of it.

Matt Smith is hardly recognisable in the film. He plays Bully, the young man who is willing to kill to keep hold of the copper which doesn't belong to him anyway. He plays a disgusting character so realistically that I can't help hating him.

Rat is played by Saoirse Ronan, one of the most promising young actresses in Hollywood today. She's called Rat because she has a pet rat that she always carries in her pocket. The rat's name is Nick.

I'd never heard of Christina Hendricks before this film, but I have to admit that she has some outstanding qualities. I'm surprised that the club had a plastic case in her size.

This is the house that Billy is so desperate to keep? This is the reason why she lets herself be touched by strange men every day? Only in Detroit.

But I have a question. If she can't afford to pay the mortgage on the house, why doesn't she just move into another house in the street that is standing empty? I mean a house that's fully paid off, of course. That would ease the financial pressure.

One more piece of information. "Lost River" was filmed in 3D. Honest! This was a waste of effort, because it went straight to video. The 3D version has only been released in Germany. Click here to order it.

As you can see, I've given the film a poor rating. I admire Ryan Gosling's courage at making such an adventurous film, but it's not something I could ever enjoy. The violence against women is bad, even if it's only simulated, but it's even more awful that people are shown who enjoy seeing violence against women. Apart from that, the chaotic jumble of themes in the film disturbs me. There are too many incoherent ideas.

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