STAY

Psychiatrist Sam has taken on Henry, a twenty-year-old man with serious problems relating to others and who has decided to take his own life. Sam seeks to delve into his past, which seems marred by tragic events, including the loss of his parents under still unclear circumstances. During his investigation, Sam will discover that not everything Henry told him during the analysis sessions is true, and, as he delves deeper into his patient's life, he will end up confusing reality with imagination in a series of events that will lead him to doubt himself and his own mental health. The overinflated mosaic of psychological thrillers is filled with a new piece: "Stay - In the Labyrinth of the Mind". After the heights of "The Sixth Sense" and various disciples (successful and not), it is hard to find an original and truly engaging product; certainly, there have been pleasant surprises like "Identity" by James Mangold, but mostly mediocre or bad examples of imitation (see the recent "Hypnosis") : unfortunately, it is to this second category that "Stay" belongs. Marc Foster's film fully respects all the rules of the modern American psychological thriller: it starts with a particularly convoluted plot that seems to lead the protagonists, and with them the viewer, to a dead end until it culminates in a final twist that brings clarity; however, compared to most films of this genre, "Stay" uses a final revelation already overused and thus highly predictable for the more experienced viewer. Moreover, the way the story is structured and the narrative focus it uses do not adequately support the final twist, making it appear highly artificial and absolutely illogical, so that at the end of the viewing the viewer will be left with a thousand questions to which they will not find a logical answer. Glimpses of Lynch-like nonsense or simple narrative logic difficulties due to a pretentious but ineffective screenplay? I definitely lean towards the second hypothesis. Another characteristic that homogenizes "Stay" with the mass of today's thrillers is a particular attention to the film's aesthetics: carefully crafted and very effective photography, often capable of combining the use of chromaticism with the situation of lucidity or estrangement in which the characters find themselves; editing sometimes tight and sometimes less, but overall attributable to the modern music video style that, however, uses some original and pleasant solutions. Foster's direction also seems particularly inspired and in some respects original, further enhanced by an unusual all-star cast that includes Ewan McGregor as the psychiatrist Sam, Ryan Gosling ("Formula for a Crime") as Henry, and Naomi Watts (in this case very wasted) as Sam's ex-suicidal girlfriend. In the end, "Stay - In the Labyrinth of the Mind" blends into the mass of many psychological thrillers produced in recent years, combining notable technical and artistic skill with a poorly managed and unoriginal story. Avoidable and absolutely forgettable.