One of the most anticipated movies of the 67th annual Cannes Film Festival is "Lost River," Ryan Gosling's directorial debut that temporarily took him out of the acting game.
"Lost River" (a fantasy thriller starring Christina Hendricks, Matt Smith and Saoirse Ronan) premiered on Tuesday morning, May 20, which means the first capsule reviews are flooding in via Twitter. The reactions are quite mixed: Most critics seem to have left the packed premiere with a bad taste in their mouths, but, depending whom you trust, it's either an inspired work of art from a new auteur or a pretentious ripoff of David Lynch and Gosling's frequent collaborator, Nicolas Winding Refn ("Drive," "Only God Forgives").
If a $200 haircut and $900 shades were given lots of money to defecate on Detroit, the result would be Ryan Gosling's directing debut.
— Wesley Morris (@Wesley_Morris) May 20, 2014
Gosling's LOST RIVER a first-rate folie de grandeur. Echoes of Argento, Korine, Lynch, Malick in a tedious allegory of Detroit as ghost town
— Scott Foundas (@foundasonfilm) May 20, 2014
Lost River: Ryan Gosling's directorial debut is a grimy urban fable equally indebted to Refn, Lynch and Hot Topic. #Cannes
— William Goss (@williambgoss) May 20, 2014
Yeah, LOST RIVER's inchoate and indulgent, but at least Ryan Gosling's interested in visuals and cribbing from edgier filmmakers. #cannes
— Alison Willmore (@alisonwillmore) May 20, 2014
LOST RIVER: Blue Velvet Of The Southern Wild. A pile-up of Gosling's influences & ideas: not good, as such, but not boring #cannes
— olilyttelton (@olilyttelton) May 20, 2014
Ryan Gosling's directorial debut LOST RIVER is like the residue of a collision between GUMMO & TWIN PEAKS. No, really. #cannes
— erickohn (@erickohn) May 20, 2014
Impressive impressionistic well-wrought debut for #RyanGosling with Lost River. Very @DAVID_LYNCH!
— Anne Thompson (@akstanwyck) May 20, 2014
NW Refn taught his padawan Ryan Gosling well. If you like that sort of thing you'll like LOST RIVER. Personally, I'm mixed. #cannes2014
— Jordan Hoffman (@jhoffman) May 20, 2014
Anyone who loved Only God Forgives should love Ryan Gosling's LOST DRIVER. Swap Bangkok for swampy America and it's basically the same film.
— Dave Calhoun (@davecalhoun) May 20, 2014
LOST RIVER: Unholy Motors. Gosling's Motown fantasy blitzes eye & mind. Carax/Lynch honored, audience baffled, but that's OK. #Cannes2014
— Peter Howell (@peterhowellfilm) May 20, 2014
Who knew? His directorial debut Lost River suggests inside Ryan Gosling a new David Lynch has been waiting to get out.
— Gregg Kilday (@gkilday) May 20, 2014
Intriguing imagery/performances & bold influences, but one thing’s clear; Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut isn’t for the mainstream. #Cannes
— Total Film (@totalfilm) May 20, 2014
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