Ryan Gosling makes his writing and directing debut with this dark fantasy drama, a gorgeous fairy tale set against the surreal landscape of a vanishing American city. Christina Hendricks stars as Billy, who lives with her two sons in a dilapidated house with only two neighbours in the whole town. Predatory Bully (Matt Smith) cruises around the streets sat in an armchair mounted on the back of an enormous old Cadillac convertible yelling threats to virtually no one, and the streets are deserted. Billy’s search for a job leads her to a bizarre nightclub where the stage shows feature performers appearing to be tortured or killed in various ways, and soon she, and her eldest son, are swept into a dark underworld they must dive deeper into in order to survive. Featuring an underwater town, dreamy visuals (from Gaspar Noe’s Enter The Void cinematographer Benoit Debie) a magical curse and an eclectic score, it’s clear Gosling has been influenced by David Lynch and Nicolas Winding Refn, but this film is very much his own. Fall under its considerable spell…

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