Ahoy, squirts! Quint here, gearing up for a double feature of SHOPGIRL and KISS KISS BANG BANG. I have a little time, so I thought I'd write up a short review of the psychological thriller STAY since it comes out this weekend.
I was very curious about STAY from the moment I heard it was shooting in New York. It's got a helluva creative team on it, with Marc Forster (FINDING NEVERLAND and MONSTER'S BALL) directing, David Benioff (TROY and 25th HOUR) writing and Ewan McGregor, Naomi Watts, Bob Hoskins and Ryan Gosling starring. Then the trailer hit and it sold it like a horror movie.
It's not a horror movie. Don't believe that for a second. Sure, the human psyche can be horrific, but the film is more of a test of your conception of reality.
The film doesn't completely work, but it's an interesting failure. I think this is the first instance where I loved the twist ending to a film, but didn't care for the events leading up to it. It's usually the other way around (HAUTE TENSION comes to mind... loved the movie, until the twist). But I won't spoil anything for you, in case you want to give it a shot.
The film follows McGregor as a psychiatrist as he meets and tries to help a troubled young college student (Gosling). Gosling is teetering on the brink of suicide, suffering a pain he won't reveal. Whatever weight he's shouldering is slowly driving him to his knees.
McGregor's girlfriend is a teacher who had tried to kill herself. That discomfort is always between them. She's desperately trying to win his trust in her, but he's too afraid of her falling back to suicide to ever fully trust her. When Gosling tells McGregor that he's going to commit suicide on Saturday at midnight that puts McGregor in a tailspin. He's got it in his mind he has to save this kid, even though the kid makes it perfectly clear he doesn't want to be saved.
In McGregor's search for the troubled young man, he starts encountering odd things, some very obvious, some very subtle. He starts seeing the same mother and her child, the child saying, "Mommy, is that man going to die?" each time. There are certain scenes where the audience will see something the characters don't, but only if they're paying attention. For instance, at certain points in the movie you'll see the background extras are in identical groups of 2 or 3, each person the same height, weight, build and wearing the same clothes, going the same direction.
The real reason I didn't take 100% to the film is, unfortunately, in Forster's direction. If I didn't know better I would have guessed a C-grade music video director got his first shot at making a feature film with STAY. The movie is filled with these weird overlays... you can see some if it in the trailer, like Ewan will open a door and it morphs into subway train doors opening and Gosling is where McGregor was just before. I usually love this type of trick in movies, but Forster does it so much that it really becomes distracting. Not only is it distracting, but most of them are really clunky.
Thinking back on the movie now, after I've had a couple days to let it sink in, I find I'm liking it more than I did in the theater. The ending is really nice and almost makes the lead-up more interesting.
The actors all put in quality work, but I wish McGregor would have kept his accent in the movie. I don't hate his American accent at all, but it would have added a level of charm to the character if he had kept his native voice.
Naomi Watts is very pretty in the film and really puts her character's troubled history behind her eyes, never really doing anything overt or over the top. She ultimately doesn't have much to do, though. I must admit that every time she was onscreen with New York out the windows all I could think about was her riding in a giant ape's hand. KONG can not get here fast enough.
Bob Hoskins is fucking great in the movie. I love this guy. He plays a blind colleague of McGregor's who Gosling is convinced is his dead father. Hoskins has some interesting turns in the movie and is great in the short amount of time he has on the screen.
Ryan Gosling himself is very solid in the film. He's a fine young actor and seems to be on the fast track to screen stardom.
That's about all I have to say about the movie. If you like a mind-fuck kind of movie, even if it's not a completely successful one, then I'd recommend a matinee for this flick. If you'd just be interested in seeing this talented cast play around in a surreal world, then the same recommendation goes for you as well.
Okay, better get ready for some Steve Martin/Robert Downey Jr. goodness. Be back soon!
-Quint
