2008 Woodie Awards
"Stay" Keeps Audiences In Their Seats
This supernatural thriller allows audiences to make their own conclusions as to the ending.
Sophia Koshmer
Issue date: 11/4/05 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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The movie does enough of that for a lifetime. Just the description of the plot in comparison to the tag line, "Between the worlds of the living and the dead there is a place you're not supposed to stay." is all that is needed to indicate the world of confusion that director Marc Forster has put together beautifully.
Starring such brilliant talent as Ewan McGregor ( Moulin Rouge, Star Wars, Big Fish ), Ryan Gosling ( The Believer, The United States of Leland, The Notebook ), Naomi Watts ( The Ring, 21 Grams ) and Bob Hoskins ( Vanity Fair, Beyond the Sea ), this film could not have had a more perfect cast of actors with which to put such a difficult screenplay onto the big screen.
"Stay" follows Ivy League professor and psychologist Sam Foster (Ewan McGregor ) who has been passed down a very challenging case in the young, troubled Henry Letham ( Ryan Gosling )who also seems to have the visions of the future that range from hail storms to predicting peoples deaths. Such instances trouble begin to terrigy Foster and begin to have an effect on his perceptions of other aspects of his own life.
Pushed beyond his comprehension of reality and struggling with psychological issues of his own in formerly suicidal girlfriend, Lila ( Naomi Watts ) an art professor, Foster begins to question his own seemingly crumbling sanity.
This psychological thriller has its audience's attention from beginning to end. But unlike most film of the same formula, the conclusion to "Stay" is neither brilliant, nor ridiculous but merely up to interpretation as is fitting for the rapidly racing psycho-drama of the entire film before it. It is highly reminiscent of similar psychological and supernatural thrillers that leave the conclusions entirely up to the audience.
Beautifully filmed and directed with symbolism around every corner, this film is filled with tiny details that mean the world when it comes to understanding a very complex set of situations that never unravel to explain themselves. Such imagery leaves the audience engaged throughout the film.