Lost River

Lost River is a 2014 American fantasy thriller film written, co-produced, and directed by Ryan Gosling, in his feature directorial debut. The film stars Christina Hendricks, Saoirse Ronan, Iain De Caestecker, Matt Smith, Ben Mendelsohn, Barbara Steele, and Eva Mendes. Principal photography began in Detroit on May 6, 2013. The film premiered in competition in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, and was released in the United States on April 10, 2015. Plot Single mother Billy lives in a rapidly crumbling Detroit neighborhood with her two sons, the teenage Bones and toddler Franky. Billy and Bones both dote on Franky but are fairly distant from each other. In his spare time, Bones salvages copper piping from abandoned houses in the neighborhood while trying to avoid a vicious local criminal named Bully, who wants all the copper piping for himself. One day, Bully catches Bones taking piping, which Bones abandons and flees. Later, Bones reclaims the piping from Bully's hiding place and manages to escape from Bully's sidekick, Face. Billy meets with a banker, Dave, regarding a loan the previous bank manager talked her into so that she could stay in her house, which originally belonged to her grandmother. Since Billy is unemployed, she is unable to repay the bank and must find a way to pay for the house. After their meeting, Dave offers Billy a job, leaving out the details of what it is. A construction crew begins tearing down the vacant houses in the neighborhood. Along with Bones, Billy, and Franky, three of the few remaining residents are Rat, her grandmother, and her pet rat, Nick. Rat's grandmother repeatedly watches her old wedding video out of grief for her husband, who died while constructing a dam. Bones discovers an old road that is overgrown and leads under a lake. While hanging out with Rat, Bones learns there is an abandoned town under the lake that was flooded when a reservoir was built. Rat says the only way to break the "curse" that is plaguing their neighborhood is to capture a "beast" from the underwater town and bring it to the surface.