The Neon Demon (2016) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written February 12th, 2017*

"Beauty isn't everything. It's the only thing"

Nicolas Winding Refn’s previous film ‘Only God Forgives’ was critically slammed and hated by most, while I didn’t hate it, it was definitely a huge step down from the likes of Drive and Bronson from the Danish director. 3 years later, Refn has learned from his mistakes and made one of the most visually beautiful, compelling and most well scored films I’ve ever seen.

Ditching the macho male fuelled fantasies of his previous films, this time he tells the female led story of a young aspiring model who moves to Los Angeles and quickly becomes the next big thing because of the her special “thing” she has. As her ego gets the better of her, a group of jealous models stop at nothing and go to extreme lengths to possess her beauty.

This film is as abstract as they come. The story is thin and moves at a snails pace, moved along by increasingly beautiful modelling shoots that really do display Winding Refn’s eye for beauty, colour and visuals. While the story is arguably thin, it’s the usual tale of a young girl consumed by the horrors of a shallow and vapid industry, it is no less compelling.

It is purely made for its visuals and music, which are truly incredible. This might be the best looking film I’ve ever seen. I’ve watched it twice now and each viewing I was sucked in for 2 hours of hypnotic visual nirvana. Every frame is a beautiful painting, filled with meaning and metaphor. While the story is thin, everything else is dense and full detail that has more than meets the eye. This is a film that will only improve on rewatches as you notice more and pick up on the little things.

Along with the visuals, where The Neon Demon also succeeds is in its music. Every track of the score is something of ’80s feeling electronic beauty composed by Julien Refn and Cliff Martinez. It made the opening titles some of the best I’ve scene, I even got a bit a “The Thing” vibe from it, bringing such an unsettling feeling that set the tone for the rest of the film.

The cast are all great. Elle Fanning leads as Jesse, the model who soon lets her own narcissism and ego get the best of her. Jena Malone was the standout of the cast, she did some things that you can really only say “Wow, you really did that. Bravo”. The male cast are sidelined to really creepy characters, but they were all memorable, especially Keanu Reeves as the sleazy motel owner who brings some black comedy to the mix.

While it is slow, it builds to its natural conclusion well, and while the balls out the bath insanity of the last 20 minutes seem to come out of nowhere, there are a few hints of what’s to come littered throughout the film. Oh, and when I say insanity, the last scenes of this film are truly some of the most grotesque and disturbing content I’ve seen in a while. It goes places I know a lot of people won’t be able to stomach. It’s disgusting, but it’s fitting and feels like the only place this film could have gone.


The Neon Demon will no doubt straight disgust some people, while others it might just bore, but for me it connected and I was in a hypnotic state for the whole run-time. A true masterpiece and form of creative expression. Refn, you are a genius. I think he might be my favourite director currently working. I am far more interested in what he has coming than Tarantino or Scorsese right now. My film of the year for 2016.

10/10 Dans

The Neon Demon is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

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Only God Forgives (2013) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written May 2nd, 2016*

"Time to meet the devil"

I have a weird history when it comes to "art" films. They either rub me the wrong way and I see them as pretentious nonsense, which is what happened that first time I watched this, then I rewatch them and end up liking them more.

I still don't love Only God Forgives, but in terms of art-house films, this is still one of the more simple and accessible ones. Sure, compared to Drive, it's a complete shock in terms of difference, but a lot of elements that made Drive great are still here.

Taking place in the hazy neon lit streets of Bangkok, Only God Forgives is about a family that run Thai boxing club which fronts as a drug smuggling operation. One of the sons decides to kill a young girl and a cop with supernatural powers lets the father of the daughter to get revenge. The brother isn't too upset about the death, seeing as he deserved it, but their mother decides that revenge must be taken.

The story is mostly fuelled by imagery. The dialogue is kept to a minimum. The lead character played by Ryan Gosling only speaks "17 lines" according to the internet, which is probably accurate. His performance was fine though, a lot of his emotion is conveyed through facial expressions, which works most of time, although it can get a bit frustrating.

I will say Kristen Scott Thomas's performance was excellent as the terrifying crime mother of the piece. She gets given the most vicious and horrible lines to say.

There's a lot of background to these deplorable characters that we get hints of through odd throwaway line. It's implied Ryan Gosling's mother and his brother had an incestuous relationship that he was jealous of and something happened that led to him beating his father to death and fleeing to Bangkok.
It's all so strange. The story is very straight forward, but told through such an abstract way. There honestly is not a lot of development out of these characters. The closest we get to this is a change of heart Gosling's character has at the end.

This feels more of a mood piece than an actual story led experience. It terms of visuals, this film utterly shines, we get the red neon lit streets of Bangkok and the backrooms of the city. Honestly, this is reddest film you will ever see, half the budget must have gone on red bulbs. Cliff Martinez' ambient score also bought a lot to the mood, with an almost fairy tale and unsettling soundtrack.

 
The biggest problem is I feel the film thinks it is more deep than it actual is. If you've ever seen an interview with Nicolas Winding Refn, you see he is one of the most pretentious pricks ever to grace this Earth and his filmmaking here shows. He likes to add weird imagery that seem to have some "deep" and hidden meaning, but it's all just actually really simple, just strangely told.

Only God Forgives is what it is. Certainly not for everyone, but if you take it for what it is, an abstract mood piece with a simple story and gorgeous visuals, it's just a bit full of itself.

7/10 Dans

Only God Forgives is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

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