Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Caryl It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

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).

Reno Rangan It's not the first time the actors who reach a certain stage of their acting career to shift their gear to the direction mode. So this time it is none other than the Canadian import, Ryan Gosling. He produced, wrote and directed this fantasy-drama-mystery which looks like a semi apocalyptic film. Very interesting concept and the cast as well. Quite impressed by the narration with those suspenses, decent story as well, but kind of complicated to understand the mix its genre.Actually, it was not a bad film, except the story won't go deeper into the characters to uncover them completely. Especially no details about the earlier years at the place where it sets in which what the title denoting. The rest of the developments are unpredictable yet created enough curiosity to hook with. The location was awesome, I mean it was kind of a wasteland, though perfectly matched to what script wanted. The overall idea of the film was like when 'Beasts of the Southern Wild' meets 'Goonies'.The story did not deliver a satisfying ending after all those promises were made in the first two acts, but overall film was a much better than any fancy twist we would expect. So the film is not for everybody, only if you ready to accept any kind of turnover at any stage of the narration, even it is a very plain, then you can consider it. Not an ideal directional debut for Ryan, but definitely a fine first step to explore the field in the coming years. Surely he would come out with a masterpiece and I'm looking forward for that.6/10

Flamiingo Watching this film left me with a different taste than most films I've been consuming throughout the years. It got me thinking, Why did I like it so much - even though the plot wasn't too clear, narrative was broken, fantasy and reality didn't blend together too well.. But still, it had this emotional great impact on me.Made me think of the beginning.. the early age of this great medium - the cinema. Back then, crowd will go to films for the attraction, for the stimulation of senses. No body gave a f*** about plot, it was all so new and fresh - ppl came to see images running one after another, to see fast motion, to see slow motion, to see the main character shooting a gun towards the camera. Story wasn't everything, but less than the main attraction - which was this wonder of cinema itself.Suddenly it got me - this film managed to give me sensory experience - from the brilliant work of audio-visual relations. It manage to form these strong imagery combined with stunning soundtrack, that leaves such a strong impact, excitement, understanding of the medium powers. I don't think that people who didn't like the film are lacking artistic taste, or leaning too much on reason and can't play along with indie experimental cinema. I don't think it's true cause I saw plenty of these so called "artistic" films, who put efforts on style but doesn't give a crap about their audiences. I know what ppl mean when they talking about lame films who hide behind artistic masks cause their films are empty and boring. But I have to say that's simply not the case in Gosling film.I don't think u will enjoy it more if ur a cinema student or whatever. I just think that if u'll manage to let the imagery take over u, without being too hard on plot or narrative, nor hating it immediately cause u'll identify it with those annoying "artistic" films - U will carry along with it, to a world of attractions, where image and sound meet to form strong impact on us as spectators. To stimulate our senses. This review has been written almost as a defensive line in court, but due to critics and score, got me thinking what a waste it is, this beautiful piece who goes almost unnoticed for its special, maybe even ahead of its time, imagery. I wish Gosling will keep developing his directive side as i see the huge potential this guy have. That being said (and hopefully understood), I found the plot interesting. Well acted by the characters, and decent directing by Ryan who manage (in my eyes) to form his own cinematic language (even though everyone was mentioning mainly the influences). Bottom line, obviously, its a fantastic film, if u let it take over and devoted urself to. Keep up the good stuff Ryan.

italodonatus Ryan Gosling has worked before with of his greatest masters, Mr. Refn. With him, Gosling learned the importance of colors, movement and symbology of a film. With that in mind, Ryan made his first attempt as the Writer/Director of Lost River, a movie with a lot of images and colors to show, but it really is about nothing. Here, the director focuses a lot on showing allegories and symbols about the world and characters (e.g see how the reverse dynamic of blue-red colors/light works) but forgets to tell a cohesive and convincing story. In the end, the movie is all about Gosling trying to be the new Refn, but he fails to accomplish, since the latter at least knows how to tell a story.