Only God Forgives

I hated Drive the first time when I saw it but after that I have learned to appreciate it more for what it is. Now this is unexpected but upon watching it the first time I loved nearly everything Only God Forgives.

It' the story of Julian (Ryan Gosling) a drug smuggler/Thai boxing gym owner living in Bangkok whose older brother is killed after he rapes a 16 year old girls. The police are called and a consistently brooding Lieutenant, Chang (Vithaya Pansringarm), lets the father of the killed girl do what he wants with Billy. Upon learning the circumstances of the death of his brother, Julian chooses to do nothing. He believes his brother deserved what happened to him. Hard for most people, save Julian and Billy’s mother, Crystal (Kristin Scott Thomas) a terrifying Lady Macbeth of sorts, who flies into town and demands that Julian exact revenge.

The film has a really messy plot that it doesn't have any character just metaphors, essentially it's about a man trying to fight God. Peoples' complain was that nothing made about the film but this is a film that tries to be as metaphoric as it can be and this is the kind of stuff that I love. But the big problem is this: a movie should be so good that you want to find all the subtleties in it and not only good if you can find all the subtleties in it. And I agree with this criticism, even though I loved the film. Only God Forgives is pretension implying that the reactionary shots  have significance when they are completely insignificant. The film is style-over-substance in my eyes and that's not a problem for me, it's just that it makes the film less good. The film also has a lot of violence in it that someone would find it unnecessary mostly in the torture scene.

The acting in the film was good. Ryan Gosling is one of my favorite actors and although he has not character to work with he fits the character well. (Any one who complain about the lack of talking of the main character never saw Valhalla Rising.) Vithaya Pansringarm is excellent in the role of the cop and he should become more popular for that. But what brings it home is the performance of Kristin Scott Thomas. She makes the most villainous role of her career and she is such a presence in the film that is a shame that she wasn't even considered for an Oscar. Also a shame is that the score and the cinematography ware overlooked too. The film is so visually amazing (the DP being Larry Smith who also was the cinematographer for Bronson, The Guard and Calvary) that it's entertaining just to watch the film. And the score by Cliff Martinez is perfect, mostly when the song Wanna Fight hits. The song has just a fantastic progression. So on a technical level this film is absolutely perfect.

In my opinion there are two types of films: the films that feel real (Before Sunset) and the films that feel cinematic. Only God Forgives is a very cinematic film that works in the hell world of Nicolas Winding Refn. Refn proves me that the American directors lack something that he has, a vision.

If you liked Drive you'll probably gonna dislike this film, if you hated Drive you'll definitely gonna hate this film. As for quality, the film is 50% bad (the screenplay and the story) and the other 50% is masterful (the technical stuff) so for that it isn't a recommendable as Drive is and I would give it a C+, as for my overall opinion I loved the film and I agree that it isn't a good film but that doesn't stop me from considering this film as my favorite guilty pleasure film ever (so in my soul this film is actually an A.)

(Note: For how unexpectedly great this film was I'll make in the near future a profile for Nicolas Winding Refn.)