Stay (B or 3/4 stars)
You won't know what's up from down after coming out of 'Stay', a psychological thriller directed by Marc Forster (Finding Neverland), & crisply written by David Benioff. This is the most twisted, thought-provoking film of the year and reminds me of another brilliant psychological thriller, Mulholland Drive. Although some people may question that film's brilliance, I believe both films are exemplary in showing great complexity of character, narrative & visual devices. You think you are seeing one thing, & you may be seeing something completely different without realizing it. I love this film genre.
Henry (Ryan Gosling) is a struggling art student who is depressed & seeing a psychiatrist named Beth Levy (Janeane Garafolo). One day, Henry goes to a session & finds that Sam (Ewan McGregor) has taken her place, temporarily. Henry is not comfortable with this change. He comes back for a 2nd session with Sam & declares that he will commit suicide on Saturday night at midnight (3 days later). Hesitantly, Sam discusses what he can of Henry with his girlfriend, an artist named Lila (Naomi Watts). I say hesitantly because she, herself, was a former patient of his who at one point in time was suicidal.
Sam & Lila try to understand Henry, why he wants to kill himself, & how to stop it from happening. Tripping up Sam along the way is the fact that Henry is suddenly acting out/saying some highly unusual things. He predicts it will hail when there is no hail in the forecast ... and then it happens. He swears that he sees his father come from the grave, when in fact it appears to be Sam's blind friend, Dr. Leon Patterson (Bob Hoskins). The movie only gets weirder & weirder from here. My mind was constantly working on overdrive as I tried to make sense of this crazy film. As if Henry wasn't confusing enough of a character, another main character in this film was its exceptional use of visuals; they provide their own parallel narrative. One moment we see Henry walking in a hallway, and in the SAME shot ... it morphs and he is walking on the street. Where is the reality? Many examples of trick cinematography come into play & it is fascinating.
The cast does a fine job. McGregor is always appealing & interesting. Watts is very good & not nearly as melodramatic as she can get. It's great to see Bob Hoskins on the big screen again. And Gosling plays the somber-introvert-tortured-soul type very well. If he couldn't pull off the extremely important role of Henry, then the film could have failed in colossal measures. I cannot divulge the fate of each character. But I can tell you that it's nothing near what you originally think is going on and I STILL have a number of theories swirling around in my head as to what the heck may have happened throughout the narrative. One would need to see this film at least twice in order to really catch the hundreds of nuances that occur.
I was hypnotized by this film and felt like I was in another world & viewing another world. 'Stay' presents its characters, what you think is the plot, & invites you to make your own assumptions of what you see before your eyes. The credits rolled & I had no idea what to think of this film, except that I knew I didn't dislike it. I chatted with 4 or so other viewers in the theater. After thoroughly discussing this film, its definite how sneakily stellar it is. 'Intelligent' & 'unsettling' are good words to describe this experience. I wish I could discuss the turn-on-a-dime ending of the film. My advice to you? View the film & discuss till the cows come home, I'm sure it will happen.
Henry (Ryan Gosling) is a struggling art student who is depressed & seeing a psychiatrist named Beth Levy (Janeane Garafolo). One day, Henry goes to a session & finds that Sam (Ewan McGregor) has taken her place, temporarily. Henry is not comfortable with this change. He comes back for a 2nd session with Sam & declares that he will commit suicide on Saturday night at midnight (3 days later). Hesitantly, Sam discusses what he can of Henry with his girlfriend, an artist named Lila (Naomi Watts). I say hesitantly because she, herself, was a former patient of his who at one point in time was suicidal.
Sam & Lila try to understand Henry, why he wants to kill himself, & how to stop it from happening. Tripping up Sam along the way is the fact that Henry is suddenly acting out/saying some highly unusual things. He predicts it will hail when there is no hail in the forecast ... and then it happens. He swears that he sees his father come from the grave, when in fact it appears to be Sam's blind friend, Dr. Leon Patterson (Bob Hoskins). The movie only gets weirder & weirder from here. My mind was constantly working on overdrive as I tried to make sense of this crazy film. As if Henry wasn't confusing enough of a character, another main character in this film was its exceptional use of visuals; they provide their own parallel narrative. One moment we see Henry walking in a hallway, and in the SAME shot ... it morphs and he is walking on the street. Where is the reality? Many examples of trick cinematography come into play & it is fascinating.
The cast does a fine job. McGregor is always appealing & interesting. Watts is very good & not nearly as melodramatic as she can get. It's great to see Bob Hoskins on the big screen again. And Gosling plays the somber-introvert-tortured-soul type very well. If he couldn't pull off the extremely important role of Henry, then the film could have failed in colossal measures. I cannot divulge the fate of each character. But I can tell you that it's nothing near what you originally think is going on and I STILL have a number of theories swirling around in my head as to what the heck may have happened throughout the narrative. One would need to see this film at least twice in order to really catch the hundreds of nuances that occur.
I was hypnotized by this film and felt like I was in another world & viewing another world. 'Stay' presents its characters, what you think is the plot, & invites you to make your own assumptions of what you see before your eyes. The credits rolled & I had no idea what to think of this film, except that I knew I didn't dislike it. I chatted with 4 or so other viewers in the theater. After thoroughly discussing this film, its definite how sneakily stellar it is. 'Intelligent' & 'unsettling' are good words to describe this experience. I wish I could discuss the turn-on-a-dime ending of the film. My advice to you? View the film & discuss till the cows come home, I'm sure it will happen.