Stay

If you don’t like non-linear puzzle stories like Mulholland Dr. and Memento, there’s a good chance you won’t like this mind twister from director Marc Forster (Finding Neverland). Ewan McGregor plays a psychiatrist who discovers a patient (Ryan Gosling) who is looking to kill himself at a very specific time, and his fate is non-negotiable. Forster lets you know pretty early on that the film is not cut and dried, and that what we are seeing is not as it appears. Critics are jumping all over this one, but my feeling is that there is much more to this movie what appears on the surface. Forster has made a very good film about the guilt that accompanies tragedies that are not our fault. He owes a lot to David Lynch’s Mulholland Dr. (he even has Naomi Watts in the cast), and his film requires much thought after viewing. Props to the folks who made this film look as good as it does. Don’t let the critics deter you; see this and make your own call.