Plot
Single mother Billy (Hendricks) lives in a rapidly declining and crumbling Detroit neighborhood with her two sons: teenager Bones and toddler Franky. While Franky is adored by both, Billy and Bones are emotionally distant from each other.
Bones spends his time salvaging copper piping from local abandoned buildings to buy needed parts for his car. All while avoiding the vicious and sadistic, aptly named Bully, in his white convertible with obtrusive rear, blue suede throne. Bully is monopolizing all copper recycling in the area via intimidation & even violence. When Bully catches Bones in his territory, Bones abandons his finds, labors and flees. Later, Bones reclaims his duffle bag of copper and escapes Bully and his toady, but is now marked for violence.
Meanwhile, his desperate mother Billy meets with the new mortgage banker, Dave, regarding the overdue predatory loan on her dilapidated and almost worthless family home. Unemployed, Dave offers Billy a mysterious job, without explaining its nature, only alluding to her physical beauty.
A demolition crew begins tearing down the vacant houses in the neighborhood. Along with Bones, Billy, and Franky, three of the few remaining residents are Rat, her grandmother, and her pet rat, Nick. Rat's catatonic grandmother repeatedly watches her old wedding video, mourning her husband, who died while constructing the local reservoir dam decades ago.
Bones discovers an overgrown road that leads under the lake. From Rat, he learns there was once a town & prehistoric dinosaur park where the reservoir now sits]. Rat believes they must bring a "beast" from the underwater town to break the "curse" plaguing their neighborhood.
Dave's job offer leads Billy to a cabaret that Dave owns. Driven there by a friendly cabbie, she meets Cat (Mendes), who does a theatrical gore show. The show's appeal is a theatrical, gory "murder", where Cat is stabbed or bludgeoned repeatedly, "spraying blood" into the captivated and delighted audience. Later, backstage, Cat shows Billy around and discussees potential cabaret skills and acts for her.
Rat invites Bones to go dancing at an abandoned high school and imply they would leave town together if necessary. Later, in a gas station convenience store, they are almost cornered by Bully and Face. Bones hides from them, and Rat accepts a ride home from Bully and Face so Bones can who later beheads her pet Nick, for aiding Bones escape.
Billy must take Franky to work with her because Bones is out with Rat. For her gore performance, she "cuts off" her facial skin, which excites the audience and draws great applause. Billy later sits with Dave, the cabaret's host, who performs a song. He drives her and Franky home, and clearly declares his sexual desires for Billy.
Bones drops Billy off at work one night and sees the nature of her work. Unable to steal copper anymore to help financially, he plans to break the aforementioned "curse." Leaving Franky with Rat, he dives into the reservoir to cut the head off a dinosaur statue. Meanwhile, Face sets Rat's house on fire and then dies in the flames. Rat cannot rouse and rescue her catatonic grandmother, so leaves with Franky.
Having retrieved the dinosaur head, Bones comes ashore to find his car ablaze. Bully tries to run him over, but Bones throws the dinosaur head through (Bully's) windshield, causing him to crash into ("Bones") now smoldering car. Bully is violently ejected from his white convertible and drowns in the reservoir.
At work, Billy is sealed in a "shell" while Dave performs a sexually erotic dance routine around her. Despite Billy's plastic cage being locked, Dave has a remote device "key". Billy steps out of the plastic chamber, stabs Dave in the ear, and then flees. Billy returns to find her sons and Rat sitting on their house steps while Rat's home burns. With the help of the taxi driver, the four of them leave the neighborhood with the dinosaur head strapped to the top of the taxi, concluding the film.
Rat’s home continues to burn in the background as the credits roll. The background fades to black after a minute, but red smoke from the fire remains in the background.
Critical reception
Lost River received mixed reviews at the time of its release. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 30%, based on 76 reviews, with an average rating of 4.60/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Lost River suggests that debuting writer-director Ryan Gosling may have a bright future as a filmmaker, but it doesn't hold together well enough to recommend on its own merit." [16] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 42 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. [17]
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian stated that the film is "colossally indulgent, shapeless, often fantastically and unthinkingly offensive and at all times insufferably conceited". [18] Kate Muir of The Sunday Times described the film as "a lurid mash up of Lynch, Refn and Edward Hopper. In a bad way." [19] Robbie Collin of The Telegraph called the film "dumbfoundingly poor" and stated that Gosling "confuses 'making film' with 'assembling Tumblr of David Lynch & Mario Bava gifs'". [20] French film critics grant real curiosity to this first movie, while identifying certain weaknesses. [21] [22]
By 2016, the film had begun to receive a more positive opinion from fans of the surreal fantasy genre. [23]
