Nicolas Winding Refn is a fetishist with a camera. Each of his films
seems to find something new and unusual to fixate on with the most remarkable
visuals imaginable.
In this film, Only God Forgives,
it is hands and vaginas.
Only God Forgives is one of
the most polarizing films released this year, and that is a good thing. We need
polarizing films. We need filmmakers like Refn, who is willing to take his cinematic gifts and piss people off while at the same time arousing
others. After making his commercial masterpiece, Drive, he had the chance to go full scale Hollywood and start
adding his flourish to all sorts of commercial products. Instead, he took his
talents to Bangkok, took his friend Ryan Gosling with him, and made a film
about a modern Oedipus in need of some serious catharsis.
The result of this project is a film as visually stunning and
complex as it is narratively simple. It tells the story of Julian (Gosling), a
quiet man who runs a Muay Thai fighting operation in Bangkok. After his brother
is killed for raping and murdering a 16-year old girl, Julian’s vicious mother,
Crystal (Kristin Scott Thomas), arrives in town to pick up the body and
encourage Julian to seek vengeance. Julian refuses, so mom takes matters into
her own hands, attracting the attention of a local officer named Chang (Vithaya Pansringarm), who is
an Akira Kurosawa character as imagined by David Lynch.
By no means is this film on par with Drive or Bronson, but it is
a powerful film because it works on a mythological level.
Julian is not only Oedipus, but also Sisyphus, constantly tormenting himself
with his own insecurities about violence and lust for his mother. He walks hellish
hallways over and over in a dreamlike ritual. He
frequently stares at his hands and uses them to push away the things he wants,
like a local prostitute he brings to dinner with his mother under the pretense
of being his girlfriend. Julian’s mother is a Satanic figure, armored in designer clothes, heavy make-up, and long acrylic nails. She speaks with equal amounts of seduction and venom. Her emasculation of Julian is as disturbing as it is erotic.
And Chang, our officer of the law, is the force of God eluded to in the film’s
title, levying his brand of eye-for-an-eye justice swift and sharp. He walks
with an omnipotence no other character possesses, and when he and Julian
square off to fight, he reveals his power in an awesome display of power and
majesty.
While I enjoyed this film, I completely understand the
frustration many had with it, and why it earned boos at this year’s Cannes
festival. Despite being a tight 90-minute film, it feels a tad longer due to
the languid pacing, mesmerizing synth score, and Gosling’s unwillingness to
express any emotion other than wood. Yet, I contend these are qualities working in the film’s favor. The pacing allows the visuals to breathe and
encompass us, leaving room for meditation; the score hypnotizes, then provides
the right spikes in the most violent moments; and Gosling’s performance
tests the limits of audience projection – he’s so minimal it is as if we
are being encouraged to place all of our anger and frustration on him, just as
the characters in the film do. Admittedly, these factors are a tough sale, and
I don’t imagine God Only Forgives
will do much more than test the patience of most audiences. If you give it a
chance, though, it will unfold and reward you.
We definitely need more filmmakers with the attitude of Refn, Gaspar
Noe, David Lynch, and Alejandro Jodorowsky, who all push the limits of
symbolism in cinema. Too many filmmakers in America are content with creating
commercial grade material and going to sleep at night on pillows stuffed with
fat wads of cash. While that is well and good – movies are, after all, a
business – in order to push the medium forward, we need mavericks who piss
people off, make them think, and ultimately challenge other filmmakers to improve
their own art. Just because a movie isn’t seen by the majority of people doesn’t
mean it can’t be important or valuable. You don’t have to make The Avengers
to have influence. Refn’s Drive didn’t
do monumental box office, but it sparked a conversation. Sometimes that’s
enough, and I think Only God Forgives
keeps with that trend. After all, anyone who witnesses the disturbing climax of
this film will want nothing more than to talk about it.
(Or not talk about it,
because what happens in the film’s climax is not fit for civilized discussion.)
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