Lost River (2014)

I went out of my way to see Ryan Gosling's directorial debut simply because it featured Matt Smith in a pivotal supporting role . Now I couldn't stand Smith in the title role of DOCTOR WHO . His performance was as a hyperactive eccentric in shouty wouty mode flaying his arms around trying to cram as many words as possible in to a sentence . For the life of me I can't remember seeing Smith in anything else so thought I'd watch this to see how versatile Smith is

Bad idea because he spent much of the film in shouty wouty mode screaming "HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY" at the top of his voice . Is there some sort of Equity rule that the only person allowed to shout is Matt Smith ? I was ready to jump to the conclusion that Smith is incapable of communicating to the rest of the world in normal tones and to be blunt I was ready just to switch the film off and go to bed but persevered and to be fair I was rewarded by a not unimpressive performance by Smith who oozes understated menace as the villain Bully and the scene where he meets Rat outside the service station does hint that if Smith has the right material he has all the potential to be a very dynamic and impressive actor

It's sad to report that casting Smith is the only success Gosling seems to have in this directorial debut . I really have not got a clue this movie was about . Something to do with a single mother trying to keep her house and her task is made more difficult with a pervy bank manager and something about a teenage boy befriending a cute teenager called Rat and both of them falling on the wrong side of Bully . Anything else was beyond my own comprehension . Gosling seems heavily influenced by David Lynch and Michelangelo Antonioni and if you're a film maker that's as smart as being influenced by LSD . Include a trippy scene because it seems like a good idea and don't bother with narrative story telling because that's only something worthless proles like and the less people that like your film equates with it being a better film . Sorry Ryan but that's not how things work and confused , confusing pretentious art house cinema is not why people go to the movies . What cinema was invented for was visual storytelling and you can have all the flashy beautifully shot visuals you like but if you've confused , disjointed screenplay that only the screenwriter understands as to what is happening and why it's happening then that can only be a failure . Maybe an interesting failure but still a failure