Stay

Director Marc Forster's woozy, pretentious would-be thriller aims to be mind-bending but instead is patience-trying as it follows Sam, a psychiatrist (Ewan McGregor) fascinated with a suicidal patient (Ryan Gosling). As the narrative spins on, Sam not only sees dead people à la The Sixth Sense but also talks with them, and events seem to repeat themselves (with slight alterations) with the same incidental characters. There's also mention of a famous painter idolized by Gosling's character, who destroyed all of his work before killing himself, reasoning that self-destruction was the most perfect form of artistic expression. These peculiarities only begin to suggest the general oddity that Forster fashions out of every conceivable cinematic device—costuming quirks, twisted camera angles, weird transitions, repetitious dialogue, flashy tracking shots, and the like—presumably with the intention of keeping the viewer in a state of perpetual uncertainty. But as the non-sequiturs pile up, the extravagances become more and more indicative of sophomoric cleverness rather than any deep meaning, and all that Stay finally is able to muster is a banal trick familiar from many other short stories, novels, and previous films. Not recommended. [Note: DVD extras include seven scene-specific commentaries by director Marc Forster, editor Matt Chessé, visual effects designer Kevin Tod Haug, and cinematographer Roberto Schaefer (69 min. total); five scene-specific commentaries by Forster and costar Ryan Gosling (23 min.); an eight-minute music featurette; and seven minutes of “Departing Visions” stories from victims of near-death experiences. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a disappointing thriller.] (F. Swietek)