After a somewhat muted reception at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, the trailer for Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut Lost River has landed online. Described in initial promo materials as being set in “the surreal dreamscape of a vanishing city,” this first preview definitely suggests that that description is bang on the money.
What’s key to note in the hunky thesp’s first stab behind the camera are his obvious influences. Working with some of cinema’s modern auteurs – Nicolas Winding Refn, Derek Cianfrance and Terrence Malick – it’s clear that their methods have rubbed off on the fledgling filmmaker.
In case the intentions of Gosling aren’t clear, the latest synopsis provides a fundamental description by calling it a ‘dark fairy tale,’ which seems to align with the trailer. While the stark color palette of Winding Refn is apparent, and the hazy, blurry lines of human endeavour a clear nod to Malick, his biggest influence is someone he’s never worked with – David Lynch.
As the preview unravels, we are painted a rather bleak urban picture of a mother (Christina Hendricks) whose young son (Iain De Casestecker) begins to explore a bizarre underwater world near their hometown. Threaded throughout there are plenty of highly-stylized shots to pep up an otherwise typical dramatic angle. It looks like it’ll be worth a watch, even if the critics weren’t taken with it.
Lost River will open its floodgates on VOD and in theaters on April 10th.
“Lost River” is a dark fairy tale about love, family and the fight for survival in the face of danger. In the virtually abandoned city of Lost River, Billy (Christina Hendricks), a single mother of two, is led into a macabre underworld in her quest to save her childhood home and hold her family together. Her teenage son Bones (Iain De Casestecker) discovers a mystery about the origins of Lost River that triggers his curiosity and sets into motion an unexpected journey that will test his limits and the limits of those he loves.