Lost River

Plot synopsis:
A young boy runs out of a house into the tall grass outside. We see a slow montage of a crumbling city and a young family as a 1920's ditty plays. Two brothers play together. A house burns slowly.The older brother, Bones (Iain De Caestecker) says goodbye to a neighbour who is escaping the decaying city. "Get out of here while you can," the neighbour advises.Bones scours empty buildings for copper to strip. An angry man, Bully (Matt Smith), drives through the neighbourhood shouting warnings through a loudspeaker to stay away from his copper. He is waiting for Bones when he emerges from a building. Bones drops his bag of copper and runs away.The mother, Billy (Christina Hendricks) visits a bank manager. She is 3 months behind on her mortgage payments. The bank manager, Dave (Ben Mendelsohn) says he is hard of hearing. She says she isn't interested in a buyout from the bank and that she wants to stay in the house as it was her grandmother's. He discovers she is not working and says she needs to think about what she is willing to do, and then comments that she is a beautiful lady. He gives her a business card on her way out, and says there is a job for her there.A taxi driver returns her home, and Bones asks her if they're behind on mortgage payments. She lies and says they're fine.Bones stares across the street at the pink neon light in his neighbour's window. The girl in the house, Rat (Saoirse Ronan) sings a sad song in her bedroom while her grandmother watches TV downstairs.The next morning a wrecking crew starts tearing down the house across the road. They spraypaint a big red "D" on the side of Bones's house. His mother admits that they are behind on payments.Later that day Bully spots Bones stripping houses again. He calls after him, angrily. Bones runs awya and stumbles across a road that leads down into a dam.Billy calls Dave and says she will take him up on an offer of a job.The scrapyard refuses to buy copper from Bones as Bully is after him. He tells him a story of a young Chinese boy who Bones had caught. Bones cut his lips off with a pair of scissors, he is told.Later that evening Rat asks to come over to watch Bones's TV. She tells him there is a town at the bottom of the reservoir, which is why there is a road leading into it. She says they flooded a number of towns when they dammed the river, which is why the town they're in is called Lost River. She says her grandmother used to live there and she hasn't been the same ever since because an evil spell was cast on Lost River as soon as the last town was drowned.A taxi driver takes Billy to work. The taxi driver is friendly and helpful. They arrive and Billy walks through a gaping demon mouth into a theatre of gory stage productions. Audience members are covered in fake blood as a woman, Cat (Eva Mendes), is stabbed on stage. She is dragged away and winks at the audience in a final glimpse of her face.Billy goes back stage and Cat asks her what her act is.Rat arrives back home, and finds her grandmother all dressed up looking at old video reels, presumably of herself when she was at her wedding years ago. Rat goes to sleep with her pet rat.The next day Bones goes out on the dam in a dingy to see what he can see of the drowned town. He sees a big dinosaur head under water. Later that evening he watches an old reel explaining why the towns were flooded. It mentions a prehistoric theme park in the old town. It advises not to worry about losing a home, because "a family makes a home!" it exclaims. Rat's grandmother continues to watch old movies. We are told that the movies are of her and her husband, who died during the construction of the dam. Grandmother hasn't spoken ever since.Billy arrives back at work. She sits at a table with Dave. Dave says that it is something he does every time he goes to a town that is imploding: he sets up one of his grotesque theatre clubs. He has Cat show Billy around after her act. They go downstairs through a purple corridor to the room with the "shells". They are plastic mummy chambers. "All you have to do is be in there," Cat says. "They just wanna be able to let out their frustrations and not worry about hurting anyone." Cat says that is the door is locked, it is not dangerous. Cat reveals that she receives a commission through convincing Billy to be in the shells.Rat does her grandmother's make-up, then goes out with Bones, leaving his younger brother with Billy who has to take him to work. Bones and Rat wander through the empty city and talk.At the club, Billy performs. She sits in front of a mirror on stage and slices off the skin on her face. She peels off her skin to reveal a bloody mask of muscles. It is fake, but realistic. The audience gasps in delight.We see a young man whose lips are scarred and look like they have been cut off walk into a petrol station convenience store. He is Bully's henchman. In order to distract Bully from finding Bones, Rat takes up Bully on an offer for a ride home. At her porch door, Bully kills her pet rat and reveals he knows she is friends with Bones.Back at the club, Dave berates Billy for bringing her son to work. He saunters up to the stage and sings a song. He drives Billy home and comes on to Billy. He suggests she work in the shells to make money. He whispers salaciously to Billy. Bones comes home and gives Billy an excuse to leave.We see the taxi driver in a restaurant smiling and laughing with friends. Bones works on his car. Billy takes the bus.In the evening Bones drives to the club with Billy's purse. He is horrified at the stage shows, and even more disturbed when he goes downstairs to the shells. He stares at one shell but cannot see it clearly. Cat says that Billy is upstairs getting ready for a show. She leaves Billy's purse in front of the shell after Bones leaves. Billy is stuck inside the claustrophobic shell. She opens the shell gasping, a siren is wailing and a voice says, "Danger, please lock shell."Bones goes back home. He tells Rat he is going to break the spell on their town. He drives to the reservoir, and is followed by Bully. Bones paddles out to the middle of the dam. Bones's lipless henchman sets fire to Rat's grandmother's house while she sits catatonic in front of the TV. Bones goes diving in the dark to retrieve a dinosaur head and switch on the street lights leading into the reservoir.At the club, a voice says, "Client is ready, please lock shell". Billy returns to the shell with her purse and locks it. Dave enters the room and performs a creepy sexual dance in front of Billy.Bones returns back to his car and finds it alight.Dave says, "I know you want this dick. You can have this dick." He proceeds open and lock the shell with a remote buzzer to Billy's horror. She flicks open her switchblade.Bones throws the dinosaur head through Bully's speeding car and he crashes.Rat tries to save her grandmother from the burning house, but she doesn't respond.Bully's head is underwater, as someone drowns him.Billy rushes out of the club. She has stabbed Dave in the head. Dave looks around the room, dazed.Bones returns home and hugs Rat. She asks him if he did it and he replies yes. Billy arrives home too, and comforts the children. The friendly cab driver drives them all away from Rat's burning house, and their empty neighbourhood. The dinosaur head is tied to the roof of the cab.A slow-motion inferno rages through a house as a wistful song plays.

Tags: psychedelic, neo noir, sadist

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