Turns Out, There's a lot to 'Forgive'
/Only God Forgives
Dir: Nicolas Winding Refn
Writer: Nicolas Winding Refn
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas
Nicolas Winding Refn did the hard work of describing his newest film for me. At the Los Angeles Film Festival, the director introduced his latest feature Only God Forgives by explaining it thus: Drive (his last feature) was like doing a great hit of cocaine with your buddies in college. This film is like having the worst acid trip, sinking into a chair, watching what's around you and asking 'what the fuck?' What the fuck indeed.
Re-teaming with Ryan Gosling, Winding Refn crafts a film that's rawer, more surreal, and more detached than Drive. Unforgiving in its violence and characterizations, Only God Forgives centers on characters so manipulative and morally ambiguous (at best) that it's hard to imagine God himself allowing any chance at forgiveness. Gosling stars as Julian, a roguish boxer living with his brother Billy in Thailand. Julian is, much like Gosling's Driver, quiet, reserved, and self-reflexive. Billy, on the other hand, doesn't have time for pausing, analyzing, and thinking though life's dirty moments. Early on he makes a rash mistake, which costs him his life and reverberates through everyone else's. Julian and Billy's mother, Crystal (a wonderful Kristin Scott Thomas) arrives in Thailand to identify and burry her eldest son. It's quick to see where the two brothers get their cold, calculated, and unforgiving personalities from. Crystal is a bitch. She wants revenge and she wants Julian to do it. The film plays like a Korean revenge thriller - high on style and low on morals.
It's easy to see why this film received a cold reception from Cannes. This isn't their type of movie. In fact, it won't be for a lot of people. There isn't any one character to grab on to emotionally or empathetically. In Drive, there's Carey Mulligan. Here, there's no one. It's a cast of deplorable characters who neither seek out nor seem to want any redemption or sympathy. There are fleeting moments when Julian makes a decision based on stricter morals, but quickly follows it up with something repulsive - such as his attitude towards his 'girlfriend.' There are lots of people like Julian in the world, but filling an entire film with them makes it disconcerting and uncomfortable to watch. If you are a fan of Winding Refn's work, seek it out. It's well directed, beautifully shot, and Scott Thomas deserves and Oscar Nomination (though, I could never imagine the Academy voting for her in this type of movie). However, you won't feel good about yourself when you leave the theatre and might seek out your own forgiveness.