Only God Forgives

Only God Forgives was released worldwide on July 19, 2013 and was highly anticipated as it was the newest release from Danish director Nicolas Winding-Refn and featuring Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson).

The basic premise is that after the murder of his brother, Julian, an American criminal living in Thailand seeks revenge against the man responsible. It soon goes way beyond this. It has Gosling playing a similar non-speaking, tough, anti-hero type like in Drive but his character is much darker in this. In fact, the entire film is much darker. It contains beautiful cinematography, long dramatic pauses, and an excellent score by Cliff Martinez (Drive). The only reason I can comprehend all the negative critic reviews is that, as much as I enjoyed this, it is a truly difficult film to watch. You are taken on a trip to Hell and hit with a barrage of violence, chaos, and misery. I have heard people comparing it to David Lynchs' work but even more so to me it reminded me of Gaspar Noe (Irreversible). The perversion, the violence, and the overall oddness of the film. As well as this, there are the themes of spirituality, mainly the fact that Chang was/thought he was God. Totally cerebral, almost trance like feel to the film with absolutely beautiful violence. Refn dives deep into the underbelly of criminal life and even deeper into what the human mind is truly like. Gosling portrays his mood with only his facial expressions and has few lines in the entire film. Kristin Scott Thomas (The English Patient) was the high point for me as far as acting. Her crude, overbearing, slightly incestuous mother was a great change of pace from the other characters in the film. I can not believe this was booed at Cannes with the people involved in the room. What a shame. If you are expecting Drive 2, don't waste your time. I truly believe this was an extremely personal project for Refn and not meant to entertain. If you want to experience a roller coaster ride through the deepest, darkest, corners of the human psyche then this is what you have been waiting for. 8.5/10