Stay

Marc Forster has made a film so strange and atypical that the actors don't really know what they're playing. Of course we have to approach Stay differently than other films. We can absolutely ignore any genres. Stay is like a dream, and that's how it should be seen. Just as everyone can find something different in their dream to explain what it came from, so too everyone can interpret this film in their own way. Disregard the spoileroid concoctions of the distributor, what the film is really about is pretty much up to the viewer. Even that alone is enough for an absolute rating, and even if it isn't, the visual gore definitely makes up for it. (01/08/2009)

A picture that immediately captures you with its great visuals and then with its powerful story. It gradually turns into a good example of a Lynch-style movie where you have no idea where you stand, who is who, etc. The excellent cast just goes to enhance the overall impression. But unlike movies by David Lynch, Stay has a clear message... And that it where its downfall lies. The message luckily isn’t served up absolutely word for word, but it doesn’t leave much room for the viewer to make up his own mind. I can shake the feeling that, if it weren’t for the final scene, this movie could have been a beautiful experience overflowing with “dreamy" magic, despite being incomprehensible. This way it remains just a showcase for Forster and, in a way, a trick on the viewer, because the cheapest explanation is always correct. In the end, this is just an over-combined variation on Jacob’s Ladder. (09/04/2006)

Stay is, in my opinion, Forster's best film to date since Stranger Than Fiction. While it's a pretty dense "psycho" in the end, it doesn't have much in common with Lynch, or rather I would say nothing at all. The directorial inventiveness is decent in Forster's work, but compared to, say, Aronofsky's brilliant Requiem for a Dream, it falls quite a bit short in this regard. :) Still, I’m giving about 90% for the quality of the form and for the rather good script. The cast is also very likable. (05/01/2010)

Before you die you get to a world where you can be who you want to be... A visually compelling, disturbing drama where everything you thought was real falls into time loops and evasive replies by the main protagonists. The ending rather unnecessarily removes the irrational charm of the whole mosaic, but even so it’s very tolerable. Excellent McGregor, excellent Gosling. (20/10/2012)

Forster plays Lynch and with a gradually escalating plot, interesting visuals (occasionally delicious cuts between locations) and hand in hand with the growing confusion in the viewer's head, he moves towards the climax, the big reveal that clarifies nothing at all and forces many interpretations, namely: a) the twist is so trivial it hurts, b) it's so sophisticated that nobody gets it, c) Forster is just taking the piss. For me it's a), and while Lynch’s movies are exciting in their bizarreness even after repeated viewings, Stay is a one-shot mess. And by the way, Gosling was excellent, Mc Gregor did his standard and Watts is just there for decoration. (30/03/2006)