Prior to the release of her wildly successful third novel “Gone Girl” Gillian Flynn published another mildly success novel, “Dark Places.” Following last year’s much-discussed release of Gone Girl, Dark Places is set to follow suit in a new thriller starring Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Christina Hendricks, Chloë Grace Moretz, and Corey Stoll with a brand new international trailer released today (yay, France!). Pretty Things and Sarah’s Key director Gilles Paquet-Brenner adapted the book and directs the film, his first new project in half a decade.

Theron stars as Libby Day, a woman whose family was brutally killed while she was a child. Her brother was accused of the murders but now a secret crime-solving society called The Kill Club force her to re-examine that painful day and uncover the truth. The film opens in France on April 8th, but U.S. distributor A24 Films has yet to set a domestic release date.

Dark Places trailer

Dark Places poster

Nicolas Winding Refn has found a trio of talented actresses in Christina Hendricks, Jena Malone and Bella Heathcoat to join his new film The Neon Demon, based on a script by Refn and Mary Laws. They join Elle Fanning and Abbey Lee, whose involvement was announced earlier. Also signed on is Keanu Reeves who is usually at his best when working with visually arresting filmmakers such as Refn.

The Neon Demon, described as a female-centric “horror film about vicious beauty,” will hopefully be yet another interesting entry in Refn’s filmography. Shooting begins at the end of March in Los Angeles, delightful news for anyone anxious to see the filmmaker return to the setting he captured so well with 2011’s Drive.

It’s been nearly a year since Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut Lost River premiered at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival to mostly negative reviews (including one from Way Too Indie). It’s also been almost a year without many new developments or newly released footage following that bizarre first clip featuring Matt Smith chanting, “Look at my muscles!” over enigmatic images. That dearth of updates came to an end recently, with the announcement of a SXSW screening, an April 10th release date, and the debut of a new trailer for Lost River.

The most striking thing about the trailer to Gosling’s film are those distinctive visuals. Lost River‘s look feels heavily influenced by the actor’s recent work with director Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive, Only God Forgives) although several writers have pointed to Terrence Malick as another reference point for the upcoming movie (Gosling stars in an upcoming Malick project). It’s easy to forget with the star power behind the camera that Lost River features several recognizable faces as well, including Christina Hendricks, Saoirse Ronan, Matt Smith, Ben Mendelsohn, and Gosling’s partner Eva Mendes.

Check out the new trailer & poster for Lost River below:

Lost River trailer

Lost River Movie Poster

Ryan Gosling knew this was going to happen. His directorial debut screened in the Un Certain Regarde category of Cannes and, naturally, packed the house as if it was the most highly buzzed Palme D’Or contender of the year. Two hours later the film ended, and people took to Twitter in disbelief, shock, and sarcasm engaged to the max. Yet, the film already began building a loyal fan base who defend its great aesthetics, originality, and the fact that it’s never boring. But getting your teeth pulled out by rusty pliers is probably never boring either. After making whatever Lost River is, there’s no way Gosling didn’t expect exactly that kind of reaction. Is there a point in even laying out the plot here? A mother (Christina Hendricks) works in a seedy bar and has to take care of two boys, one of whom is nicknamed Bones (Iain De Caestecker) and is sort of our protagonist. After getting news that they’re about to get displaced, she takes another job in an ever seedier bar, operated by her banker Dave (Ben Mendelsohn) so that she can pay three months in advance. Meanwhile, Bones attempts to outwit a local gang leader called Bully (Matt Smith) to help with the rent, and gets moral support from a friend called Rat (Saorise Ronan). Yes. Bones, Bully, and Rat.

The actors do a decent enough job and go beyond the call of duty that their names suggest, but it’s Mendelsohn who outshines everyone and truly looks like he belongs in the fucked up world Gosling juke-boxed together. The film spins out of control quite quickly and goes into experimental mode; becoming a lab for Gosling to play around with a Greatest Hits collection of influences (David Lynch, Nicolas Winding Refn, and Gaspar Noe most notably, though the re-occurring image of burning buildings recalls one of my favorite cinematic shots, possibly ever, from Akira Kurosawa’s Ran) without needing to make much sense. The idea is to evoke a nightmarish atmosphere and make the whole thing into some form of parable for the housing crisis in middle America, or you know, he’s just fucking around. Whatever it is, he’s got me cursing for the first time in a Cannes review and that’s because most of the scenes, as great as they look (an image of a burning bicycle, the macabre bar where Hendricks begins to work, and the images of her in the plastic suit are undeniably striking and get etched into your mind, for better or for worse) don’t amount to anything substantial. This isn’t just style over substance, this is style raping substance.

The music deserves a mention, however, because (and this is a direct Refn influence) the electronic notes work in sinister fashion to help the overall grotesqueness occurring on-screen. If there was a Cannes award for Best Soundtrack, Lost River would be a shoe-in. As it stands, it’s nothing more than a first-time director’s messy homage to some of his favorites. The reason it’s getting so much attention, and will most likely go down as a cult favorite in certain circles, is because the director happens to be Ryan Gosling. Thanks to his name, though, he manages to assemble artists like Mendelsohn, Ronan, cinematographer Benoit Debie, and composer Johnny Jewel who elevate this psychedelic bad trip from complete disaster into a twisted kind of entertainment.

Before the film officially premieres later this week at Cannes, a new clip from Ryan Gosling‘s Lost River has hit the Internet. The clip doesn’t give us much except Matt Smith chanting at Iain De Caestecker to look at his muscles. From what we know of the film, De Caestecker plays Bones, son to Christina Hendricks‘ character Billy, who finds an underwater town. Matt Smith goes simply by Bully, and with his sequined jacket, microphone, and flaming bicycle antics he already appears to be one of what will undoubtedly be some interesting characters. We’re nowhere nearer understanding what this film is all about, but it was on our Most Anticipated Films of Cannes List and this just has us all the more excited to see it!

First Clip of Lost River

Following the recent loss of one of the best (if not the best) performers of our generation, it feels like a gift to be able to watch Philip Seymour Hoffman grace a movie screen in any capacity. It’s something to be savored, but in God’s Pocket, one of his last ever roles, his talents, along with the talents of the rest of the uniformly brilliant cast, are done little justice. Everyone struggles here, including first time director John Slattery (Mad Men), who grasps and grasps but can’t manage to find a singular vision for the jumbled, lifeless tiny-town crime flick.

Hoffman plays Mickey Scarpato, an exhausted-looking fellow who lives in the titular South Philly neighborhood with his bored wife Jeanie (Christina Hendricks) and rotten stepson Leon (Caleb Landry Jones, who maximizes the few minutes he’s given). Leon is a terror of a shit-talker, infuriating his co-workers at his factory job to no end. Or rather, to his end: After pushing one of the boys to the brink with awful racist insults, he’s clobbered on the head and…well…so begins Mickey’s landslide of problems. He must bury the boy to appease the unappeasable Jeanie, which leads to him racking up major debt and getting mixed up with dirty mafia types.

The tone, writing, and performances in God’s Pocket are all incredibly awkward, which is a surprise considering the artists at work. Hoffman just can’t get his hands on the character of Mickey, with a fluctuating accent and emotionally ambiguous reactions to just about every situation. He clicks best with John Turturro, who plays his Sopranos-esque best friend and confidant Arthur, but even their chemistry doesn’t feel completely natural.

The characters are written too loosely, oscillating between working class clichés and unreadable moralism. Jeanie begins to take a liking to Philly celebrity journalist Richard Shellburn (Richard Jenkins), an old scumbag who makes a pass at her while sitting on Leon’s twin bed. The infidelity seems to be born out of her resentment toward Mickey, but her inner struggle is conveyed with the depth and subtlety of a pea-brained bimbo by Hendricks, who is capable of so much more.

There’s something off about the script (written by Slattery and Alex Metcalf), which tries very hard to mix quirky small-town humor with flashes of shocking violence. Both the comedic and dramatic elements are woefully uncalibrated and unbalanced, canceling each other out at every turn. When Arthur’s elderly mother shoots a goon in the chest at the family store, the man bleeding out on the floor, it’s hard to figure out the scene’s intended effect. The tired “old lady turns out to be a badass” gag is clearly comedic, but as Turturro kicks the dying man in the stomach screaming “This is my family!”, it all just feels very, very uncomfortable.

The neighborhood of God’s Pocket is well-crafted by Slattery and his crew, and well shot by cinematographer Lance Acord. The costumes and sets are rightly gritty, conveying the perpetual hard-drinking slump of similar salt-of-the-earth communities. The visual presentation is convincing–it’s just too bad that it’s the only thing convincing about this mediocre production. The stakes are unclear, the story is aimless, the performances are half-hearted, and those thirsting for another shining showcase of Hoffman’s gift will be sorely disappointed.

God’s Pocket trailer

Nicholas Winding Refn’s Drive is a gloriously brutal love letter to action movies of the 70’s, featuring a lead character that doesn’t even have a name, a fantastic synth-pop score and soundtrack and very well stage action set pieces. Drive is one of the best films of the year. Not even wasting a second to get started, the film opens with a fantastic scene involving our hero at work as he drives two thugs to a warehouse somewhere in L.A.

Our hero is quickly put to the test when the cops catch a whiff of his trail. Showing exceptional driving skills he leads his fare out of trouble. Refn then throws out the style. Bold, bright, italicized Pink colored credits accompanied by a slow pulsating pop song with way too much swag leads us through a night drive in L.A. with The Driver.

The Driver (with no name) is played by Ryan Gosling who is this year’s it boy for film. The guy has been around for years but it seems like this is his year to break out, and boy what a film to do it in. Gosling plays the driver as a quiet, cool and calculating young man who mostly stays to himself. But don’t be fooled. His Driver explodes with intense rage when pushed to the limits. Probably the most famous scene from the movie is proof of this as he is forced to protect the girl he is smitten with.

The girl is played by Carrie Mulligan who probably couldn’t be any cuter if she tried. She lives in the same building on the same floor as our hero. He soon forms a kinship with Mulligan and her young son. We find out that her husband is in jail and will soon be released. This doesn’t faze Gosling. When her husband is released, he almost immediately gets in to trouble with his crew. Gosling offers to help for one time and one time only.

Up until this point, the movie has been pretty tame. There are some moments of uneasiness, but nothing quite boils over. That is until Gosling ‘s offer to help. Gosling offers his services as a driver for Mulligan’s husband on one last job. The job goes completely awry and from here on out the movie is on fire. Along with the brutal elevator scene, Refn stages an unbelievably violent set piece in a hotel.

The first time I saw Drive at the Toronto International Film Festival, the audience was cheering and whistling when the hotel scene reached its apex. I’m not a champion of violence, but when something is done right I know it’s worth applauding and Refn’s action sequences are a stand up and cheer from the banisters type of effort.

I know every other critic has done this but I must echo their praises, Albert Brooks. What a performance. He’s been funny for decades. Here he plays completely against type and nails it. Here is a three dimensional villan that is so sinister, yet so, I don’t know the word for it. Understanding maybe? He doesn’t want to do the things he has to do, but he knows they are a mean to an end. I can’t wait to see his name called for an Oscar nomination in 2 months.

With all these great stars in Drive, it’s easy to forget that the real star of this film is director Nicholas Winding-Refn. The Danish director has quite the eclectic palate of late. His last 3 features couldn’t be more different. His film Bronson was an intense performance piece by the brilliant Tom Hardy. His film after that Valhalla Rising was a slow esoteric and extremely bloody look at Vikings in the highlands of Europe.

Now comes Drive, his Hollywood breakthrough. A highly stylized and a very confident film that completely stands apart from anything else released this year. Bright and colorful, full of gloss and extreme ire, Drive is a breath of fresh air. I cannot wait to see what Refn does next.