‘Lost River’ – Appreciating Ryan Gosling’s Haunting Lullaby 10 Years Later

Sharp and tall, the blades of grass sway gently in an unseen breeze. Amongst the shifting greens is a small boy. His serenity is palpable, bolstered by the tranquility of the natural world around him, and otherwise unswayed by external factors.

His sojourn is interrupted, however, when his mother swoops the boy into her loving and protective arms. In short order, the calming meadow is revealed to be an overgrown yard resting beside a decaying homestead, itself housed within a swiftly disintegrating Detroit community. Abandoned buildings reflect the ghostly aura of a once livable and thriving locale while unchecked fires ravage and opportunistic evils mature. People who are able are getting out, leaving those who remain cemented to the deteriorating country abandoned by the world outside.

Written and directed by Ryan Gosling, Lost River (2015) finds its footing in that forsaken place, teetering on the edge of societal collapse and the awe-inspiring power of Mother Earth as what had once been claimed, developed, and tamed, is reabsorbed into the grand indifference of nature’s domain. Presented with a hallucinatory eye and a fascination with the otherworldly terrors inherent in those people and places that refuse to acknowledge structured civility, Lost River is a strange, disturbing, and unexpectedly soulful expedition into the hearts and minds of those innocents attempting to navigate the tumultuous currents of a place that not only devalues the lost, but that seems to thrive in their collective misery.

Christina Hendricks is Billy, a single mother desperately attempting to retain ownership of her family’s eroding residence. In her care is Franky, the little boy from the film’s opening moments, and her teenage son Bones, played by Iain De Caestecker. Bones struggles under the self-imposed weight that his mother’s financial struggles elicit, resulting in an understated combativeness and detached frigidity between them. Still, amidst the sniping comments and frustrated gaps in their communications, there is an overt sense of love and belonging stitching their interactions together, ensuring that the painful, dangerous, and damning decisions the characters make remain tied to an altruistic desire to retain and protect their home and family.