This film is an exercise in creative cinematography that happens to have an engrossing narrative attached to it. Director Mark Forster has combined David Benioff's story about life, death and alternate realities with the amazing camera work of Roberto Schaefer. The result is a film that unfolds as a kind of fever dream where clear answers and coherent reasoning don't matter as much as the feeling one gets while watching the imagery.
Sam (Ewan McGregor) is a psychiatrist who is trying to help a new patient, Henry (Ryan Gosling), a young man who is planning to kill himself in a few days. Sam's girlfriend, Lila (Naomi Watts), herself a survivor of a suicide attempt, tries to help and support him. The encounters between Sam and Henry are increasingly bizarre and disturbing to Sam, as his life seems to be somehow intersecting with Henry's. Sam discovers that Henry is going to kill himself on the Brooklyn Bridge and he goes there to try and stop it from happening.
The performances by the three leads are all very convincing. This was the first time I had seen Ryan Gosling in a film, and I found him to be quite impressive. His rather understated portrayal is a perfect contrast to the more physical style of McGregor, who is called upon to portray a man who is desperately searching for answers as his life spins out of control. Naomi Watts is always excellent in everything she does and is seen to good advantage here. Bob Hoskins and Janeane Garofalo are good in their supporting roles.
But the real stars here are Mr. Schaefer and his camera. It was the imagery of STAY, more than any other factor, that held my interest from start to finish.
