Ryan McNeil
It’s been a little while since I wrote one of these feature pieces about my friends’ favorite movies. Guess there’s nothing like a rainy day to catch up on some dvd watchin’ (and likewise some writing).
This time out I’m taking the recommendation of Laura, a funny and spirited co-worker who just happens to have been hired to fill my old job. When I asked “New Me” about some of her favorites, she mentioned Marc Forster’s 2005 thriller STAY. Take a peek at my thoughts after the jump.
The Details: STAY – USA, 2005. Starring Ewan McGregor, Ryan Gosling, Naomi Watts and Bob Hoskins. Directed by Marc Forster
The Source: Laura Po. Co-worker, the new me, and loyal blog reader.
The Reason: Laura enjoyed the fact that the movie is a 95 minute puzzle, and the fact that it’s filmed entirely in a city she loves (New York). She also made mention of the way it is shot, which piqued my interest since she and I are both photographers. If the visuals caught her attention, chances are they’d catch mine too.
The Reaction: The only problem with Laura describing this movie as “a puzzle” was that it left me looking for the twist right from the get-go. I had three theories – they were all wrong. What you watch play out is a case where psychologist Sam Foster (McGregor) tries to help troubled artist Henry Letham (Gosling). Letham seems deeply depressed and has outright threatened to kill himself. It’s up to Foster to put together the pieces of Letham’s life and try to save him before it’s too late.
The movie won’t make any top ten lists, however I was blown away by the way the movie was shot, and the way the movie was cut. The transitions from scene to scene are imaginitive, stunning, seamless, and amazingly cool. Likewise, the movie’s photography was worth a look, as Forster washes his scenes with blues, greens, and greys, and creates entire sequences that could hang in any gallery as installation art. Every once in a while I’ll finish a movie thinking it looked so good, that I could have watched it on “mute”. STAY is one of those movies.
Adding It Up: I don’t quite share Laura’s deep-seeded love for STAY, though I am indeed happy I saw it. It’s always nice to see a New York movie that turns the city into a character, rather than one that leaves it so far on the sidelines that Toronto is used as a stand-in. My only regret is that Laura told me that I was in for “a puzzle”. As the film played out, I began working out theories. When it ended, I felt any of my theories might have made for a better payoff than the one I was given.
Regardless…well worth the watch!
May I make a suggestion from another co-worker?
Shot in Toronto and Montreal (and not ashamed to entitle scenes as such) is Picture Claire.
I won’t say more than that, but I do hold a place in my heart for this one. I still have yet to find me a DVD copy of it, I had VHS and even THAT has gone missing 🙁