Stay (2005):: Stay DisTuned!

You watch movies regularly? So you have some assumptions about the syntax of a movie. With a little bit fluctuations accepted, you must expect a beginning, an ending and a consistent flow of inter-related events should make a story in between which may have twists and turns but can be figured out eventually. Well, if you are going to watch “Stay”, move aside these assumptions (you better forget entirely), just don’t try to figure out anything, don’t establish perceived relationship of any sequence with another sequence- just watch it!

 

You finished watching it? Well, 48 hours later from now I’m gonna ask you this- “Can you get out of this movie yet? Is your brain still occupied with the weird thoughts generated from or at least influenced by this irregular movie?”

 

Your answer may be yes or no. But for me, the answer was no. I’m humbly accepting the truth that i could not understand ‘Stay’ mostly, got annoyed sometimes and it did not maintain conformity with my assumed criteria of a storyline at the minimal level- yet I fell into that movie instantly and it haunted me down for a next few days.

 

The plot outline (?) of the movie is (retrieved from imdb and written by Preston Adcock(prowler029@motley.com)

 

Standing in for a sick colleague, renowned New York psychiatrist Sam Foster is confronted with disturbed art student Henry Letham. Seemingly inspired by his idol, a painter infamous for committing suicide on his 21th birthday, Henry announces he will shoot himself Saturday at midnight–the moment he turns 21. Foster, once having saved his suicidal girlfriend Lila, takes the threat seriously but fails to simply have Henry taken into custody. Instead, while trying to track his patient down, Sam is gradually drawn into the world of Henry’s obsessions.

 

This film is compelling with all it’s absurdity, dejavu, surreal humor and deliberately done visual nonsenses. It has an open storyline, you can draw your own conclusion and the visual is vivid, different yet attractive and has an artistic style. Ryan Gosling was splendid as Letham, and Ewan McGregor gave an excellent performance as usual. Naomi Watts did not have that much important role though she was good. The construct of the myth about Tristan Riviera seemed very interesting

 

Marc Forster is a gifted director. He is applauded heavily for his movies “Monster’s Ball” and “Finding Neverland” as well grabbed some awards, while “Stay” got some harsh reviews from critics. I watched both the movies, liked “Monster’s Ball” and loved “Finding Neverland“. I neither loved nor liked “Stay”; I just got hooked by it!

 

Good Things About “Stay”:

• Ryan Gosling was superb.
• It is thought-provoking.
• The whole movie is a ‘good treat’ and add a new definition in the term ‘Psychological Thriller’.

Bad Things About “Stay”:

• The tag-line sucks. (’You Can’t Stay Between the Living and the Dead.’)
• The dejavu of Dr. Sam Foster portrayed by repetitive door opening scene was boring.

Interesting Things About “Stay”:

• William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is probably the inspiration for the movie.
• “Letham” is an anagram of “Hamlet” and Henry Letham is freaked out when he sees his father’s “ghost”.

Well, you guessed right, I’m suggesting you a watch!