Lost River (5/10): Gosling's ambitious directorial debut doesn't reach the high standards he was setting for the film.

“The wolves... if they're not already at your door... they're gonna be there very efin soon.”

Lost River has the potential of becoming a cult film in a few years because it is very artistic and far from being a mainstream movie due to its lack of a cohesive narrative structure and its nightmarish atmospheric approach. Ryan Gosling, who is one of my favorite actors, is the writer and director of Lost River, and for a first feature film I must say that he aimed extremely high. He borrows heavily from directors he’s worked with in the past or that he’s admired, so you can see some heavy influences from Refn, Noe, Cronenberg, and perhaps even more from David Lynch. These aren’t directors that are easy to imitate and therefor Gosling struggles to find his own voice although the result is rather unique. Being an actor that many people like the easiest thing for Gosling would’ve been to direct a mainstream film, but I give him credit for trying to make an artistic film that will be appreciated by a select group of people. I didn’t have any funny watching Lost River, but I did find some of the nightmarish scenes quite disturbing so it isn’t one of those movies you easily forget about. I’m not a fan of surrealism so I’m not the greatest judge for a film like this, but I think that it will find its audience with fans of movies like Enter the Void, Under the Skin or any of Lynch’s films. What Rosling is trying to get at under all the heavy imagery he uses is the desolation that the American Dream has on some people when its not achieved.

Perhaps the most difficult thing to do in a review for a film like this is write a plot summary because it would be easy to confuse the reader and make them believe there is some sort of narrative structure to the movie when in reality it’s more about setting a dreamy atmosphere. The story takes place in a fictional town named Lost River where most of the people have abandoned the place after a nearby flood destroyed the city. It is actually filmed in an abandoned town in Detroit and Gosling experiments by having some residents interact with the actors in a couple of scenes. A young teen named Bones (Iain De Caestecker) dreams of leaving the city knowing there is no future there, but his single mother, Billy (Christina Hendricks), refuses to leave the place where she grew up in. Billy is behind on the payments of her home however, and she is forced by a banker named Dave (Ben Mendelsohn) to accept a job at this sort of dark underground freak show that he owns. Bones’ neighbor, Rat (Saoirse Ronan), who lives with her mute widowed grandmother, tells him that the flood has left a spell on the town and that is why everyone behaves so strange in this city. The streets are owned by a violent man known as Bully (Matt Smith) who Bones gets into trouble with. Meanwhile Billy is introduced to the dark underworld where she works where audiences seem to have a fascination for gore. There she meets one of the performers, Cat (Eva Mendes) who shows her how the place works. The film basically follows these characters and introduces us to the nightmarish town accompanied with a vibrant electric score and neon lights. 

The performances in Lost River are solid with Ben Mendelsohn standing out as you can tell he’s having a lot of fun with his character. The film might be all over the place at times, but the talented cast delivers. Iain de Caestecker is the lead actor and his scenes were probably my favorite when it focused on his relationship with Rat and the tension between his character and Bully. Matt Smith is also having a lot of fun with his character and despite not being as menacing a villain his wacky and violent behavior is always hard to predict. As much as I enjoyed Christina Hendricks in the female lead role, the scenes of the dark underworld took me completely out of the movie. It was a freak show that I didn’t care for very much. Reda Kateb has some interesting scenes playing the nice cab driver. There is one scene where he talks to Billy about the American dream which is sort of the underlying message of the film. Overall I felt the movie didn’t balance the two main stories very well and there were scenes that felt disconnected with the rest of the film. Lost River isn’t an easy watch but I still admire Gosling’s effort.

My Review: The Grand Budapest Hotel (8/10)

"Did he just throw my cat out of the window?"

If you were to walk blind folded into a movie, you'd only need 5 seconds to recognize you are watching a Wes Anderson film. His quirky sense of humor and stylized films are so unique that he manages to draw us in to this colorful world effortlessly. The Grand Budapest Hotel is no exception, and once again Anderson introduces us to a quirky setting full of dysfunctional yet amusing characters. In my opinion there was no better setting for an Anderson film than a fictional country in Eastern Europe like the one in The Grand Budapest Hotel where these gigantic and beautiful ancient castles fit his style perfectly. At times his films feel like you are turning the page of an illustrated book from one scene to the next and that is what is so unique about his style. I am a huge fan of his films and wasn't disappointed with his latest effort although I wouldn't consider it amongst his best work (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, and Moonrise Kingdom are my favorites). I do acknowledge however that his films tend to grow on me upon rewatches so it may manage to make it near the top of my list in the future. Once again watching an Anderson film proved to be a wonderful and unique experience, and I laughed hard during many scenes. Anderson never seems to lose his touch as there are several memorable moments throughout the film.

No one can deny Wes Anderson's creativity and it is just a pleasure to experience what his quirky mind is going to come up with next. The dialogue is brilliant once again and several characters stand out. Ralph Fiennes in the lead role as the hotel concierge is brilliant as is his apprentice, Tony Revolori. The two have great chemistry together as Fiennes' character sort of becomes the parent figure of the young lobby boy, which Anderson always loves to explore in his films. The epic cast was brilliant as well, and it was good to see Anderson's frequent collaborators on screen together once again. They may not have much screen time, but Anderson fans will appreciate every second they are on screen (Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson, and Tilda Swinton). The highlight of the film for me were the spectacular and hilarious chase scenes through the gorgeous Alps background and Willem Dafoe's comedic performance. The way Anderson edited those scenes was extremely funny as well. I really liked the quirky soundtrack  which just added to my overall enjoyment of the film. I only wish the film would've explored the romantic relationship between Tony Revolori and Saoirse Ronan a bit more and that it wouldn't have concluded in such an open ended way. It was still a lot of fun!

My Review: How I Live Now (6/10)

"Love will lead you home."

How I Live Now is kind of a difficult film to categorize while at the same time it is also very hard to connect with. Scottish director, Kevin Macdonald, who has had some hits (The Last King of Scotland) and some misses (The Eagle) delivers a film that I would rank in the middle, not as good as his best movies, but not as bad either. It is hard to categorize because it stays away from generic formulas by combining classic teenage romantic elements in an indie style apocalyptic universe. It's this ideal and peaceful world that Macdonald presents that is all of a sudden interrupted by a meaningless war creating a pretty powerful metaphor with some strong imagery. But at the same time the film is also very hard to connect with because the main character is introduced as a hateful and guarded teenager who slowly begins to change when she falls in love with her cousin. I found the film tolerable thanks to Saoirse Ronan's lead performance. She is one of the most talented teenage actresses of our time and is always dependable (except for The Host, which was a film that no one could have saved). Her performance was the highlight of the film and despite how hateful her character was at the beginning of the film she quickly grew on me. She shines in a film that changes tones and moods very quickly and Ronan is just captivating despite all the issues I had with this film.

Daisy (Saoirse Ronan) is an American teenager who is sent to England to spend the summer with her cousins at their countryside home. She doesn't seem very excited about her trip and alienates herself from her family when she first arrives. The house is kind of a mess as her aunt (Anna Chancellor) is very busy and her cousins pretty much take care of themselves and their many pets. She begins to fall for her oldest cousin, Eddie (George MacKay), who treats her well despite her initial withdrawal. As days pass she begins to warm up to her younger cousins, Isaac (Tom Holland) and Piper (Harley Bird), and soon enough she begin to enjoy what seems to be a perfect summer. Their ideal world changes when a nuclear bomb explodes in the city and a major war breaks out. Daisy and her cousins will now have to learn how to survive in this dangerous world that begins closing in on them violently.

How I Live Now was adapted by Jeremy Brock (The Last King of Scotland) from Meg Rosoff's 2004 apocalyptic novel of the same name. In my opinion the screenplay didn't translate very well during some scenes, especially those involving Daisy's thoughts which sometimes reminded me of Ronan's work in The Host where she would talk to her other self. These scenes where we could hear her thinking about all the rules she needed to follow were pointless and kind of took me out of the story. The love story was also pretty weird considering she begins a relationship with her cousin and never has second thoughts about incest or anything like that. The film never tries to explore these issues, it simply tells a story through her eyes. What did work for me were the scenes in the beautiful English countryside and how the director focused on this family without shifting to a big scale during the war. It remained small and focused on these characters. The film also took me by surprise during some scenes as it shifted in tones quite a bit. Overall I thought it was an average anti-war film that will be enjoyed mostly by Ronan fans. 

My Review: The Host (2/10)

"Choose to believe. Choose to fight. Choose to love. Choose to listen."

Choose to stay away from this movie, unless like me you enjoy watching terrible films once in a while so you can say how terrible they were and be more grateful for the great ones when they come along. So let me begin by saying how terrible the script was. Andrew Niccol was once a great writer (Gattaca, The Truman Show, and The Terminal), but I don't know what he was thinking when he decided to adapt this script. I mean he had a wonderful novel to work with (note the irony here please). The Host was written by Stephenie Meyer, the successful novelist that brought us the Twilight saga. Meyer has a huge following, which mostly consists of preteen girls, but I have to say that this film was a lot worse than the Twilight saga and not even her fans went to see this movie. I actually enjoyed some of the Twilight films, but The Host was just too much for me. If you've seen the Twilight films then you know how ridiculous the scenes with the werewolves communicating with each other through voice over narration was. The Host is essentially the same thing as we see the main character speaking to her body's host and basically having a conversation with herself throughout the entire movie. Oh and how can I forget, you have yet another love triangle here although this time it gets a little weird because despite the fact that there are two boys in love with a girl she is two separate persons, so basically it is a love triangle between four people in three bodies. If I hadn't seen Saoirse Ronan before giving such wonderful performances in films like Adaptation or Hannah I would've thought that this young actress was going nowhere. She is terrible here, but I assume it's because of the poor script she had to work with because this is the first time she disappoints. With strong material she has been mesmerizing and I know she has a great career ahead of her. Meyer will probably continue writing best selling novels thanks to her fan base, but hopefully they will stay away from adapting such novels. 

Our planet has experienced several years of peace thanks to an alien race that has invaded us and taken over our bodies as hosts. A few humans have been able to survive by remaining hidden forming a resistance movement. Some of the aliens are in charge of finding these humans and inviting new hosts to take over those bodies. The leader is known as The Seeker (Diane Kruger), and after capturing a young girl named Melanie (Saoirse Ronan) she puts a host inside of her known as the Wanderer. The Seeker asks the Wanderer to get into Melanie's head and extract information of the whereabouts of the rest of the resistance movement. The only problem is that Melanie doesn't make it easy for the Wanderer to make decisions on her own, and she slowly begins to convince the Wanderer to help her instead of the Seeker. The Wanderer/Melanie escapes and reunites with her uncle Jeb (William Hurt), her boyfriend Jared (Max Irons), and her little brother Jamie (Chandler Canterbury) along with the rest of their community which remains hidden in some caves. At first they don't accept the host, but Jeb convinces everyone they should help her and they slowly begin to realize that the Wanderer has come in peace. Ian (Jake Abel) begins falling for the Wanderer, who they now call Wanda, due to her kind spirit, and thus complicating things between her and Melanie. Meanwhile the Seeker doesn't give up on her search and continues to pursue the remaining humans.

I think I have written way too much for a film I really didn't like at all. This will certainly be on my list for the worst films of the year and it could be in the top 3. The cinematography wasn't bad here, the film does look good and the scenery is beautiful, but it suffers from a weak story with terrible characters. I can't blame the cast for their performance here because they really didn't have much to work with. I don't think they took their jobs seriously and just went for the easy money. The only character I liked here was Jeb and maybe it had to do with the fact that William Hurt is a great actor. I still don't know why he agreed to star in this film, but he still managed to do a decent job. I've defended Niccol in the past because he has directed some great films, I even enjoyed his sci-fi film In Time, but I can't defend him here. The Host is a terrible film. 

My Review: The Way Back (8/10)

¨Kindness. That will kill you here¨

 The Way Back is a fantastic movie directed by Peter Weir, who made one of my favorite films, The Dead Poets Society. I don’t think any of his movies will live up to that one, but The Way Back is still a great and inspiring movie. The film is based on the novel ¨The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom¨ written by Slavomir Rawicz who claims the book is autobiographical although many skeptics have found flaws in his claims. I don’t care if the events actually happened or not, I still think they made for a great and inspiring story. I`ve seen many films about survival and some are greatly exaggerated (The Grey for example), but this tale is as realistic as it gets. There are several long shots of beautiful scenery where nothing much happens other than long and exhausting walks. I guess that is what a survival film should have: endless walking. I even got tired of seeing these characters walk so much, but Peter Weir adapted the screenplay in such a way that he maintains us interested in the characters and their struggle for survival and their refusal to surrender under such harsh adversities. I also loved the performance from the cast, Jim Sturgess was strong as the lead role and he had a lot of help from the supporting cast including the always reliable Ed Harris (who gave one of the best performances of his career in another Peter Weir movie: The Truman Show), Colin Farrell who may have had a few misses but also has a lot of hits including this one thanks to his great Russian accent, and of course the young and talented Saoirse Ronan who we have seen in Atonement and Hannah. The Way Back is a solid movie with a lot of heart, beautiful scenery, and some strong performances.

The story is pretty simple, it takes place during the early 1940`s in communist URSS during the Second World War. Janusz (Jim Sturgess) is a Polish accused of being a spy by his own wife (after having tortured her) and therefore sent to a Siberian gulag where he meets other innocent and no so innocent prisoners. Some of these prisoners include the reserved American Mr. Smith (Ed Harris), a Russian criminal Valka (Colin Farrell), and Khabarov (Mark Strong) the man who introduces him to the place and befriends him. Janusz knows how to survive in the wild and begins to engineer a plan to escape and walk across Russia to Mongolia. Along with Mr. Smith, Valka, and a few more men they decide to escape in the middle of a snow storm and take their chances in the wild. With little food and fierce weather conditions they begin their struggle for survival in the open. During their journey to Mongolia they face several obstacles but continue to pursue south. On their way they meet a teenage girl who is also trying to flee the country. Irena (Saoirse Ronan) begs the men allow her to accompany them and although they refused at first they begin befriending her and enjoying her company. Together they continue their struggle for survival in search of freedom although many more obstacles are ahead of them.

I really enjoyed Colin Farrell`s performance in this movie. I think he brought the comic relief that was needed in this type of movie and was perfect. His scenes were probably the most interesting ones. Jim Sturgess has a great future ahead of him and he does give a strong performance in this difficult film. Ed Harris is one of the best actors so it was no surprise he was so good in this movie. Saoirse Ronan gives the movie the heart it lacked at the beginning. The movie has an excellent cast; they give great performances and make us care for their characters which are essential in a survival movie like this. Every time the movie seems to be slowing down something exciting or interesting happens that hooks us again. There is also a lot of different and beautiful scenery in the film and the cinematography is great. The film also reminds us of the oppressive regime that the soviets ran and the injustice many had to face. It makes a pretty harsh statement towards this political movement, but in the end it is actually a movie about survival and never giving up.

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My Review: Hanna (8/10)

¨I just missed your heart.¨

Hanna is an action film that really delivers and gives us more than we were expecting without being anything extraordinary. I really enjoyed the freshness of its script and the lead performance from Saoirse Ronan who had already worked with director Joe Wright in the past in Atonement. Wright is also famous for his adaptation of Jane Austen`s novel Pride and Prejudice starring Keira Knightley. Hanna is one of those action films that stands out from the rest of the pack because it feels fresh and original. Seth Lochhead had already written the script way back in 2006 and had received some recognition for his work by being listed in the Black List twice (an annual list that signals out some of the best screenplays that were never produced) until his movie was finally produced and directed by Wright. Yes, the script might have some plot holes here and there, but Ronan`s performance and the action make up for it. The action is almost nonstop and we get to travel across different locations as we experience one chase after another. The fighting scenes are pretty well choreographed and the supporting cast is also interesting. Hanna is not your typical action film, it is different and kind of hard to predict. At first it is difficult to understand what is going on, but as the story develops we get to piece together the mystery and uncover the past. Hanna also works because we have a rather unconventional heroine who can really bring it. Joe Wright found the perfect person in Saoirse Ronan for the role.

I don’t want to give too much of the plot away because this is one of those movies that the less you know about the better. I will only mention some of the characters and general storylines and let the viewer piece the story together as they watch the film on their own. Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) has spent her entire childhood and adolescent life undergoing special training somewhere in the middle of a forest in Finland far from all civilization. Her father has spent his life training and educating her so that she be ready for a very important mission. He has turned Hanna into a perfect killing machine because he claims there is someone who wants to kill her. Hanna`s father, Erik (Eric Bana), decides to train her and prepare her for her encounter with this person named Marissa (Cate Blanchett). When Hanna feels ready Erik lets her go on the mission and the chase begins across various locations beginning in Morocco and ending in Germany. Marissa isn’t the only one after Hanna, she has help from Isaacs (Tom Hollander) and some of his friends. Hanna on the other hand befriends another girl named Sophie (Jessica Barden) and she and her family are the first people she`s ever had a relationship outside of her father. Olivia Williams plays the mother, Rachel, while Jason Flemyng is the father, Sebastian. Hanna discovers she isn`t actually a normal girl and decides to search for answers while facing off with Marissa and Isaacs who are after her.

The soundtrack of the film is by The Chemical Brothers, who aren’t actually among my favorite bands, but they have a very different style of music which worked perfectly with this very different kind of action film. Beside Ronan`s performance which I have already signaled out, I have to say Eric Bana does a pretty decent job playing her father and Blanchett does the same playing the nemesis although we`ve seen them before in better roles. Tom Hollander plays a really weird character in this film and I really wasn’t interested in his character. As for the technical aspect of the film it was beautifully shot and edited. The action was pretty well developed and I enjoyed watching the story unfold as the movie moved on. Joe Wright has directed a very different film from what he has made in the past, but he did a great job with Hanna. By the end of the year I will probably still remember this film because it`s one of those movies that sticks with you for being entertainingly awkward. Midway through the year I can say it is one of the better action movies I`ve seen this year, but not nearly as close to being anything extraordinary. It’s no masterpiece, but it works nonetheless. Saoirse Ronan has an interesting future ahead of her and she`s proven that her excellent work in Atonement was no one-time thing; she can really bring it considering the strong physicality this role required and she delivered. This is one movie you won’t want to miss.

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