First surreal teaser for Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut, Lost River

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Ryan Gosling‘s directorial debut, LOST RIVER, is premiering at the Cannes Film Festival this week and we have a look at the first clip/teaser for the fantasy film. Previously titled HOW TO CATCH A MONSTER, LOST RIVER stars MAD MEN’S Christina Hendricks, AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Ian De Caestecker, DOCTOR WHO’s Matt Smith, Eva Mendes, Saoirse Ronan, Ben Mendelsohn and Barbara Steele.

To this point, all we have known about the film was that it would be a fantasy and a brief synopsis:

LOST RIVER follows a single mother of two (Christina Hendricks) who finds herself in a dark underworld, while her son (Iain De Caestecker) stumbles upon a road that leads him to an underwater town.

Now, if you are familiar with the musical stylings of Ryan Gosling then you know he tends to skew his creativity in bizarre ways and this clip is no different. Virtually without dialogue aside from Matt Smtih chanting “look at my muscles”, this teaser showcases De Caestecker exiting a tunnel with a duffel bag full of something as a flaming bicycle rolls past him. The rest is a montage of various things engulfed in flames as De Caestecker runs for his life.

Whatever is going on here, Gosling’s dream-like visuals are certainly inspired by his time working with Nicolas Winding Refn, but will LOST RIVER be anywhere as accomplished as films like DRIVE or PUSHER? That remains to be seen. LOST RIVER currently has no release date, but with Gosling such a big name, expect an announcement of distribution to be made before the end of the Cannes Film Festival.