Review

New York Psychiatrist Sam Foster is standing in for a sick colleague, and is confronted by the emotionally disturbed art student Henry Letham. Henry, who may be trying to emulate his idol, a painter who committed suicide on his 21st birthday, declares he will shoot himself on Brooklyn Bridge Saturday night – when he also turns 21. Foster takes the threat seriously but fails to have Henry taken into custody.

Sam Foster's girlfriend Lila, who was once suicidal (razor blades in the bathtub yo), is his shinning example of having saved someone, and Sam believes he can do the same for Henry. Unfortunately as Sam is dragged into Henry's world his own grasp on reality threatens to shatter. Can Sam save his own sanity and rescue Henry from his obsession with death, or is there something else happening here?

So I got dragged into reviewing this one due to the awesomeness of Naomi Watts in the cast and then discovered the whole movie is a catch 22 situation. The film is being promoted as a ghost story, which it kind of is, but it really drifted into a metaphysical distortion of reality that left me somewhat confused till a second viewing sorted out what the hell was going on with differing aspects of the film. One of those movies that you can wax lyrical about, and in the process open yourself to allegations of being a bit of a dropkick, or which you can openly attack as being totally pretentious. Notably on the web the haters, while demonstrating a deplorable lack of cinematic nous, are aware that the movie is excellent but go out of their way to defend themselves before showing they simply didn't get a film that doesn't play to the lowest common denominator. Stick to the blockbusters Boredwood pump out ad infinitum kids. Stay is simply excellent cinema, but it's not for everyone, and if I had to be honest I would have to say it certainly wasn't for this beer and pretzel Reviewer. That whooshing sound was stuff flying over my head during the run time.

[Editor's Note: Think the whole movie is externalisation of emotional conflict?]

Director Marc Foster simply goes buck wild naked behind the camera to add an almost surreal feel to things. We get scene transitions you wouldn't believe, crazed angles up the yahzoo, and all manner of shenanigans to brighten up our day. At no stage does this feel overdone or effects inserted simply for the sake of going all David Lynch on us, Foster is well aware of what he is doing and adds the effects to impose a mood and to heighten a certain aspect of the movie. Sure you may be lost on occasion, some cuts don't make sense till you work out just what the movie is about, but stick with it. For mine Forster nails the quintessential requirement of Stay and is almost breathtaking in doing so. Did I mention Foster also inserts almost French style characters talking in front of a static camera to good effect?

I should mention before we get to the plot, Foster isn't making a traditional horror movie here, there's no thrills and spills, though at stages the tension gets eased up a notch. One of those quiet dark genre movies that's more about mood and interpretation than scaring the living daylights out of you.

While you should get the hang of the overall plot, maybe a second viewing would be a recommended strategy, a lot of the scenes still don't make a lot of sense at face value. There's like Ogre layers and stuff. Stay is so heavily textured that the movie exists a degree or two beyond normal human understanding, and perhaps at stages interest. Trying to fathom why exactly some piece of dialogue, or a scene, happens is a real mind twist. I must admit I prefer movies slightly less cutting edge, and more in the realms of real space. We expanded a great deal of coffee and early morning hours to trying to decipher every single nuance going down, and got to about 50% of the movie's content. Guess that probably lifts the re-watch factor, which is just as well as we spent precious budget money on the DVD due to Ms Naomi Watts gracing the cast list.

Marc Foster is helped out by a cast that rocks the house down and then builds it back up again. Ewan McGregor (Sam Foster) nails it as the Psychiatrist who is out of his depth and who takes a little too long to work out what's going down. The Audience gets there before Sam works it out. Ryan Gosling (Henry Letham) is equally taking names as the tortured art student who lives in his own bizarre world of obsessions and emo hanging out. And of course Naomi Watts (Lila Culpepper) once again lights up the screen and makes us believers in movie goddesses. With star firepower like that, and hey not forgetting Bob Hoskins, how can a movie miss?

Before winding this one up I should also mention Ascher & Spencer's score, that puts the “sub” in subversive. It hits all the required emotions and does so while being pretty peculiar and unique. I was grooving to the tunes kids.

So I put on the gloves and went nine rounds with Stay, hey bring a complex opponent on I'm a lean mean Reviewing machine over here. Unfortunately the movie had me on my arse by about the third round with the umpire calling drinks, or whatever they do when someone is out classed. I dug the movie, worked out most of it, but am still lost with certain aspects. Heck I enjoyed myself and would recommend Stay to true movie fans, but not for a beer and chips entertainment evening. Decent movie that is unapologetically trying for the art crowd.