STAY
/
2005
DIRECTOR: Marc Forster
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Roberto Schaefer
WRITER: David Benioff
BUDGET: $50,000,000
GROSS: $8,483,797 (worldwide)
Marc Forster is not a director stuck to one genre. After Monsters Ball (which I didn't think was as great as the praise it received) put him on the map back in 2001, he followed that up with the wonderful Finding Neverland. Then a couple years later he gave us Stranger Than Fiction - and has since gone on to direct a James Bond film: Quantum of Solace and World War Z. He was also the man at the helm of The Kite Runner. And then there’s Stay, which he did back in 2005.
Stay is an interesting film for me to write about here, because - while I did like it, I can see where people have problems with it. However, for me, the problems were outweighed by how much the film completely intrigued me.
The movie is about a psychiatrist (Ewan McGregor) who’s trying to prevent a patient (Ryan Gosling) from committing suicide. Naomi Watts plays McGregor's girlfriend (herself, once the victim of a suicide attempt).
What makes this film so interesting is its play with reality. What is real? What isn't? What is actually happening? These are all questions that the characters - and we the audience - ask throughout the film. Also, the style and film-making technique is very impressive, being both overt and subtle at the same time. Some of the visuals and imagery is obvious, and yet there are little editing moves that are wonderfully subtle: Like when characters walk behind a pillar or wall and reappear on opposite sides of each other. Little plays with our perception occur throughout the film.
However, my problem with Stay, was the ending. The film took me down this path of real and faux reality and although I wasn't sure I understood everything that was going on I was counting on a big finale payoff. Not that I wanted - or needed - a nice clean/wrap it all up ending, but I did want something at least that would justify the time I had spent experiencing it. Well… it didn't give it to me. The finale did bring some things into perspective, but it didn't have the impact that the film had made me feel like was coming.
So, then why am I writing about it here you ask? Well, like I said right up front, the problems didn't outweigh the positive experience I had with this film. So, the ending didn't live up to my expectations and it’s a little convoluted. But something about this movie just had me engaged throughout - be it the story and, even more so, the style. Sometimes one little problem can easily ruin an otherwise really good movie for me. But interestingly enough, in this case, a few bigish problems didn't have the same effect on my experience with Stay.