Review of Stay (2005) by Benjamin J — 29 Jul 2009

Stay is a film that almost requires at least two viewings. The first will take you on a ride where you will have no idea what's going on until the last fifteen or so minutes. The second viewing will allow you to see how the film's style explains what the last fifteen minutes will reveal. It's quite frustrating, but also fascinating.

What Stay is essentially about is how the mind pieces together life. We always form one simplified impression of a particular person, and usually that impression stays with us. Many of the characters appear to the main character in the same way he last remembers them. This film also allows its main character to come to terms with certain aspects of his life that have left him in a state of remorse, of constant grief. In a sense, Stay is a twisted redemption story. For who, I cannot say, for I would need to reveal spoilers. The less you know of this movie, the better. Hell, you won't even know what this movie is about until the last fifteen minutes.

Some people will be turned off by this mystery-thriller. It calls to mind the work of David Lynch, mainly his masterpiece Mulholland Dr (coincidentally, the film that made Naomi Watts a star). Stay is a far lesser film than Mulholland Dr, mainly because its payoff is underwhelming. Any movie that hides its secrets for as long as Stay does can't live up to its promise. But nonetheless, Stay is fascinating to watch. It's a competent exercise in style over substance. Strangely enough, in this case, the style IS the substance.