Nicolas Winding-Refn presents a visceral nightmare of a film that really does need to be seen to be experienced.
It's no secret that Ryan Gosling and Nicolas Winding-Refn developed what has been described as a 'famous friendship', one that even led to an utterly fearless man-kiss at the Cannes film festival before an army of photographers. With regards to the lead role, Luke Evans was originally intended to play it, but was replaced by Gosling due to scheduling conflicts, and that's a fact that I'm oh so happy about.
Past the an outline of the plot, Only God Forgives is a film that is overwhelmingly difficult to describe. We follow Julian (Gosling), a drug lord in Bangkok who runs the family business with his brother, Billy. When Billy is killed in questionable and violent circumstances, Julian's mother, Crystal (Kristin Scott Stewart), a vehement mafia crime lord from the US, sends him on a mission to seek revenge against those involved in Billy's murder.
Likely the most admirable aspect of the film is it's fearlessness; Refn is known for a style that doesn't really care what the close-minded and easily distracted think. His trademark features of form are noticeably stamped on every single frame and in the audio of every shot, which are in abundance. The shots take their time in establishing the films unsettling tone, dwelling on single frames that are unmoving for seconds at a time. Gosling's character, Julian, has only seventeen lines of dialogue in the ninety minute running time, requiring him to rely on facial expressions and movements alone in these long-held shots, which he pulls off spectacularly.
The films most unlikely talent comes from the relatively unknown Vithaya Pansringarm, who portrays psychotic veteran cop Chang, although his name goes unsaid over the course of the film. Outside of the film's world he is described as 'The Angel of Vengeance', an almost ethereal force who acts as a kind of Anton Chigurh with a set of morals; he distributes revenge in what he sees to be equal measure throughout the criminal underworld of Bangkok.
In terms of style and form, Only God Forgives is a work that will no doubt, in a couple of decades at the most, be examined and evaluated again and again in search of meaning and reason. Refn's last film, 2011s Drive, was referred to as an Art-House film, and this one will probably suffer under the same misunderstood header. Neither of them should be given this condemnation of genre though; just because effort has gone into a film doesn't mean it needs to be thrown into a different style altogether. All film can be considered art - Only God Forgives is an example of genuine talent and positively indulgent spectacle.
This is a film that will probably struggle to find it's intended audience, which is really a shame because it's a prolonged exercise in how form should be executed in a film; every shot measured for meaning and implication, with the kind of brutal fearlessness that you'll struggle to find in a lot of contemporary cinema. Despite his films repeatedly taking violent paths, Refn has reiterated that he is not a fan of violence, and 'hates anything that hurts.' But experiencing Only God Forgives is like staring into the abyss of the man's mind, to see the kind of real and potential beauty that cinema can achieve. Just make sure to open yourself up to it in equal measure.
4/5
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