Stay

I swear I just saw this thing in the form of a Canadian disappointment called Lucid, another film that reneges on actual narrative closure for the sake of some Sixth Sense/Usual Suspects hybrid. Ewan McGregor plays a psychiatrist who's treating a suicidal college student (Ryan Gosling); the student insists he'll off himself on his 21st birthday and then promptly disappears. As McGregor frantically searches for him, he meets characters who are either dead or possibly part of Gosling's circle, making the good doctor wonder what is real and what isn't. Aside from the frustration of a story that fails to play by its own naturalistic rules, there's the unforgivable exploitation of the suicide angle that will annoy anyone who's been through the mental health system, and some silly digital transitions that serve no purpose beyond the standard "oh, wow." Director Marc Forster keeps everything looking austerely swank with some ultramodern university locations, but he can't create a mood beyond people in comfortable circumstances, even as they feign discomfort. At first, the movie seems merely slack, but as it progresses it gets ever more infuriating, both on the level of subject matter and sheer dunderheadedness, and by the end you're just frustrated and angry. Rent either of its antecedents and call it a day, because there's no point in putting yourself through this Technicolor chore. Extras include one scene-specific commentary with Forster and Gosling that's full of fatuous clichés, another scene commentary with Forster and some tech personnel that's equally shallow, a brief documentary on the phenomenon of near-death experiences, and a featurette on the scoring that's surprisingly in-depth. (Fox)