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Stay (2005)

Director: Marc Forster

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From Time Out London

An arty, richly layered, complex and challenging psychological thriller, Marc Forster’s follow up to ‘Finding Neverland’ again deals with a fantasy world of sorts. Manhattan shrink Sam Foster (Ewan McGregor) has inherited Henry Letham (Ryan Gosling), a disturbed art student, as a patient. Henry declares he will kill himself at midnight on Saturday, his twenty-first birthday, in homage to his favourite painter. Meanwhile, Sam’s own world seems to be falling apart as Henry’s delusions begin to impinge on his reality. What’s the meaning of the flashbacks to a car accident on the Brooklyn Bridge? Why are dead people seemingly alive? And why don’t Sam’s trousers fit?

Working from a taut script by David Benioff and drawing on Nicolas Roeg and ‘Alphaville’, Forster, director of photography Roberto Schaefer and visual effects supervisor Kevin Haug have crafted a hallucinatory New York, a dark, fractured, dislocated landscape populated by twins, triplets, repeated motifs and people. In this highly detailed visual puzzle, Forster’s well-served by his talented cast, Naomi Watts, in particular, providing the film’s emotional anchor as Sam’s girlfriend. If the twist feels a little unsatisfying, there’s no denying the craftsmanship on display.

Author: Mark Salisbury 2006-02-27 14:05:39

Time Out London Issue 1854: March 1-8 2006