If you think back to 2011, you may remember the waves caused by an overrated, overtly stylized neo-noir starring a tediously taciturn Ryan Gosling. Cannes’ fickle audiences gave it a standing ovation, it earned nearly 6 times its budget of $13m and helmer Nicolas Winding Refn was hailed as this decade’s Tarantino.
All of which I still fail to understand.
Winding Refn’s Palme D’Or nominated pseudo-arthouse follow up – Only God Forgives – contains double the gore, half the narrative and Ryan Gosling.
When Billy Thompson (Tom Burke) is murdered, brother Julian (Ryan Gosling) and psychotic mother Crystal (Kristin Scott Thomas) plot their revenge on his killer. If you think Winding-Refn wrote this painfully laconic film in the space of 2 hours, you may well be correct.
The entire picture is highly stylized, comprising rectilinear compositions, neon lighting and static framing. All to achieve the effect of a neo-western. These methods and effects may dazzle for the first 10 minutes but become tiresome as there is little narrative to support them. Regardless of genre, story is always key to making a film. Will Winding-Refn ever realize this? Perhaps never.
(I won’t waste any space on Gosling: a monotonous, predictable sellout, he is truly excruciating to watch in any current picture. End of story.)
Thompson truly deserves a Golden Razzie for her vacuous performance: stilted, sedate and a sure misfire. However, given her passable resume, it is clear that Refn is almost certainly to blame. It is the director that extracts the actor’s performance; a great director fully utilizes the actor’s potential to its full use. A 90-minute deadpan performance from one’s cast does not count.
This decade’s Tarantino? Pfft. At least this one was booed at Cannes…
Stars - ★★
By Rehan Mudannayake
Only God Forgives (2013)
Crime | Drama | Thriller
Plot: Julian, a drug-smuggler thriving in Bangkok's criminal underworld, sees his life get even more complicated when his mother compels him to find and kill whoever is responsible for his brother's recent death.
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Writer: Nicolas Winding Refn
Stars: Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas & Vithaya Pansringarm
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