Only God Forgives - Review

After his brother dies, Julian (Gosling) a drug dealer, is confronted by his mother, Crystal (Kristin Scott Thomas), and pushed to seek revenge on his brother's murderer. Choosing not to go ahead with the revenge initially, we see a divide in the family, with Crystal confident that she can find someone else to do the job. However, when countless murders happen and Crystal realises she is alone without protection, she chooses to beg one last time for her son's protection and an end to the trouble.

There was, and still is, a lot of controversy around the latest feature from Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn, with reports that the film was booed at Cannes along with many other negative comments made, it seemed like fans of Refn were expecting a sequel to Drive, his last collaboration with Ryan Gosling, who stars in Only God Forgives, and what viewers got was anything but that.

The film is influenced by avant garde cinema, but too much so to be considered a masterpiece by violence and action fans, yet is also too violent and linear to be considered avant garde, leaving the film in a limbo between genres, and the limbo where it resides is where I feel people's discomfort and dislike of the film comes from. Rather than take the film for what it is, which, in my opinion, is a piece of work that transcends genre boundaries all together, people want a defined piece of work, they want to be told what they are watching and what other films it is similar to, they want comparisons, one word descriptions and a star-rated system, the fact that Refn gives his audience ambiguity in all corners of the film shows the respect he holds for the intelligence of the viewers. The film is set in the East and the majority of viewers are from the West, the underground world of Bangkok in which we are viewing is meant to seem alien to us, this unfamiliarity of culture is mirrored in the unfamiliarity of the film's style, the differences from films set in Westernised countries is meant to detach us from the location, making it seem that bit more dangerous and unknown. It is with this that the film has been misunderstood, people had expectations for the film as opposed to an open mind and their ability to pass judgement on the film as a stand alone piece is tainted by the hauntings of Drive, two years after it was released.

Every single shot of the film looks like it could be framed and put in an art museum, the amount of beauty in each frame is breathtaking, the line "Time to meet the Devil" is spoken at the beginning of the film, making us aware of the nightmare journey we are about to embark on, but slow motion effects are used, making the film seem a lot softer than most dark films, it is a nightmare shot in the style of a dream.

The film's pacing is a little slow, shots are held for long periods of time in order to build tension, with the action and violence not taking up too much screen time, but being memorable when it does for the sheer brutality of it. Along with the pacing not being at super-speed like most thrillers, dialogue is not heavy at all, either, with Refn taking the approach of quality, not quantity. Gosling's character speaks a mere 22 lines throughout the whole 90 minute film. As said previously, the film does not spoon feed information, it requires a close eye and presents the majority of information visually, which is a real pleasure to watch in a time when I feel most director's take for granted the actual ability that a camera has.

Nicolas Winding Refn has definitely proved himself as a force to be reckoned with in the world of indie cinema, with his next feature set for release in 2015, we can only wait and see the direction that the director will take. With Only God Forgives, he has presented himself as one of the top young directors of our generation, making the films that other director's are too afraid to risk making and pushing the limits of cinema as an art form.