DIRECTOR: Nicolas Winding Refn
CAST: Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas, Vithaya Pansringarm, Rhatha Phongam, Tom Burke
RUNNING TIME: 90 mins
CERTIFICATE: 18
BASICALLY… When his brother is murdered by a Thai cop, Julian (Ryan Gosling) goes to great lengths to avenge his death…
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NOW FOR THE REVIEW…
Looking at the blurbs found on the poster for Only God Forgives, you’ll find words like “superb”, “hypnotic”, “masterpiece” and “dazzling” used by critics to describe Nicolas Winding Refn’s anticipated follow-up to 2011’s Drive. While those words and more can definitely be used to describe this hauntingly beautiful revenge thriller, perhaps the most appropriate word used to sum it up has surprisingly not been plastered all over the adverts, and that word is “Kubrickian”.
Of course, to compare any film with the work of one Stanley Kubrick is a big deal in of itself, but here it feels qualified. The man who brought us 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining and many other classics always had an eye for the grand and majestic while keeping other vital elements such as story and character to a minimal status, and taking its time instead of rushing everything. With Only God Forgives, Refn has captured the essence of the legendary auteur, taking those elements and putting his own unique signature on it. Some will understandably call it a case of style over substance, a potentially fatal curse for any film that chooses extravagant cinematography and luscious set design over interesting story and pivotal character development, but perhaps they don’t understand that Refn probably just wanted to make the film like this all along, like Kubrick wanted to make the films he wanted to make, characters or plot be damned. For instance, can you remember a single main character or plot thread in 2001: A Space Odyssey? All anyone can really remember from that film are the visuals – the apes at the beginning, the freaky-looking baby at the end, et cetera – which are a result of Kubrick just making his film an experience.
And that’s Refn’s Only God Forgives in a nutshell: a Kubrickian experience. Audiences are invited to be drawn into this dark and nightmarish underworld of deceit and blood, where the only character with a moral conscience is a Thai man in a black shirt and oversized white collar that slices the hands off any wrongdoers as a means to restore some sort of justice. Vithaya Pansringarm, the occupier of this “Angel of Vengeance”, delivers a quiet and nuanced performance while at all times shaing a divine presence whenever his presence is made known in a room. It is, as daft as it may sound, as though he is the “God” of the title who is judging those he sees unworthy in his own twisted manner. As the old saying goes, God works in mysterious ways. He is a character that Kubrick would have admired dearly.
Pansringarm comes off better than Ryan Gosling does, which may come as a disappointment to anyone expecting a repeat of the actor-director relationship established in Drive. Limited to only a handful of lines and very few facial expressions in a role much smaller than one might anticipate given his name, Gosling makes little impression other than fit neatly into the many sequences of surrealism and blend in to the background of the much more starry backdrop of Bangkok. Kristin Scott Thomas, as Gosling’s mother, has the potential to really stand out as Albert Brooks did in Drive with a flamboyant and occasionally very darkly funny performance (when told that her other son was killed for raping and murdering an underage prostitute, she snarks back “I’m sure he had his reasons”). Although such an extravagant character such as hers feels wildly out of place amongst everything else in this film, her despicable morals allow her to stay on for as long as she can to give the film an even darker feel to it.
Others will absolutely disagree with this review – its current 40% rating on Rotten Tomatoes notwithstanding – but this reviewer still stands by his guns in saying that Only God Forgives is a work of cinematic gold. Drive is still undoubtedly the better film, but this is well within its own ranks if not near the top.
SO, TO SUM UP…
Only God Forgives revels in its breathtaking visuals and minimalist characters and story, and ends up being the best Kubrickian experience you’ll have in a cinema this year.
