Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

danielrachael Most people will want to check this film out simply because Ryan Gosling is so popular and well liked. Not to mention an incredible actor but this film, although not bad by any stretch shows that he still needs to polish his filmmaking skills a bit more. Regardless just out of curiously give this one a shot. (Decent directorial debut by Gosling).

bachi_2805 Let me start by saying this is not a boring film at all.Eva Mendes is great. Christina Hendricks and Saoirse Ronan are the beacons. Iain De Caestecker is a rising star. Ben Mendelsohn is smoothly developed. Matt Smith's character is spot on. Even the secondary characters help build up the story (these are particularly funny and creepy and full of color).A well executed painting from the first brushstrike to the last, this "fairy tale-horror film" is full of meaning and, in my personal opinion, the literary tools that work the inner gears are bright and speak highly of the odds of Gosling making more masterpieces as a director.Of course a large number of people will never take the time to understand this movie. Just as they'll never sit down and read a book. Any good art piece, in my personal opinion, confronts many topics at the same time. Lost River does that, and, to my pleasure, it does without the need of words. By the way, the perfect amount of words is used throughout the movie. Part of the magic of art lies in one finding those hidden meanings by your own, so I won't talk about any of them.Cinematography plays a huge part. Both in the beauty and in the storytelling aspects of this picture. Though a disciple of Malick and Refn, it is a personal film. I've fallen asleep to countless movies, thus I can guarantee you'll be getting to the edge of your seat the further it goes. Even the end credits are beautifully shot."The sky is the limit", I think, is an adequate way of defining Ryan Gosling's opera prima.

donjven Everyone has acknowledged great cinematography, great acting, lighting, but what the heck was that movie about? I keep hearing about a macabre underworld; well how does that translate into this story line? We're certainly not going to compare "Dave" to "Frank" in Blue Velvet, are we? I watched the entire movie and with about twenty minutes left I realized it was going to end the way it began for me: having no idea what this movie was about. I was quite impressed with the lighting and the use of darkness and fire to add to the scene lighting. It just needed to move past that. Really one of the worst movies of all time I've ever seen because of the story.

phd_travel Despite being a huge fan of the terrific actresses Ronan and Hendricks I just didn't like the movie. It's not as weird as David Lynch - there actually is a story and it moves along to a satisfying conclusion but I just didn't get the point of all of it. The ugly images and pseudo violence just seem meaningless. The ugly acts aren't funny and don't advance the plot like in a Tarantino film. Ryan Gosling wrote and directed this movie. He directs things fairly effectively but it's the story that is weak. He even got his girlfriend Eva Mendes to appear in this and she is kind of wasted. In fact the high caliber international cast is all wasted. Poor Detroit seems to be the setting of many a horror/thriller movie now.Even if you are a fan of the stars, don't bother watching this one. I though it was a waste of time.