This doesn't cover the plot or interpretation thereof, which are amply described by other reviews. It does represent the reaction upon first viewing by this non-expert, ordinary movie lover lacking an extraordinary vocabulary, view catalog, or memory. I was initially drawn to this film because Saoirse Ronan stars. Only later did I discover that Ryan Gosling wrote and directed, which sealed the deal. From the initial scenes, I anticipated a straightforward, marginally interesting, bland, depressing story. I was definitely wrong about the first three. The tone was in fact depressing, but hopeful. It slowly morphed into an ever more surprising, surreal plot reminiscent of David Lynch's efforts, especially "Blue Velvet", and those of Ingmar Bergman (I am not familiar with other directors mentioned in these reviews). Some moments were cringe evoking but were presented in a way that did not cause me to turn away. As usual with largely metaphoric films, I found it to be incomprehensible but fascinating. The acting was spot on. Cinematography and sound were fine and not distracting. It is a superb first effort behind the lens by Gosling. Who'd a thunk it would be anything like this? I look forward to his next work. I'm about to watch "Lost River" again, and probably more times afterward. Give it a try if you like unique, artsy-fartsy cult films.

One of the worst films I've ever seen. The story was incidents stringed together with no continuity and gratuitous poor quality gore. I can't express how much I hated it

The Three Acts:The initial tableaux: The film has two locations. One is Lost River, a more or less country version of Detroit: jobs are in short supply, law enforcement is non- existent, salvaging copper is a dangerous way to make money, and the gangster Bully kills anyone who opposes him. Billy has two children. One is Bones, who salvaged copper at the wrong time, and is on Bully's extermination list; the other is Frankie, who is a bit past toddler. Bones and Rat become friends. Bones tries to find the origins of Lost River's problems.In order to keep her house, Billy takes a job at a house of horrors (with plenty of simulated gore and mayhem) and starts to adapt to it with Cat's help. The bank arranged (well, extorted) that; her loan officer runs the house of horrors.Delineation of conflicts: Bully wants to keep his little empire of fear and hate. Bones wants to figure out what all was drowned when the river of 'Lost River' was dammed (not damned...or was it?). Billy would like to keep her house, but also escape from the bank's coercion. She listens to the monologues of the cab driver who takes her to the fun house. Bones is supposed to watch over Frankie while Billy is at work; his failures to do that cause substantial trouble.Resolution: Law of the jungle crossed with politics of scarcity yields a dreary downward spiral. Is there any upside possible?

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.