Nicolas Winding Refn's 'Only God Forgives' is a film driven by smoky, hypnotic images and use of language and gore to shock the viewer. Paced slowly enough to generate distraction in the viewer who expects a coherent sequence of events to occur within an interval capable of building suspense or maintaining interest, this film turns away from the telling of an urgent narrative and trades story for effusive metaphors perhaps less obvious than even the writer intended. While enjoyment of 'Only God Forgives' possibly hinges on how deeply the viewer is willing to read into its sequence of red and violet tinged images, reasoning too deeply into what transpires might well be a waste of time.
If you've regularly watched movies for a decade or more, you've almost certainly encountered before this style of film making. The vast depiction of character time on screen is devoted to the making of various expressions and the performing of mostly subtle body language synchronized to the visual rhythms of settings and situations. The images here drop hints and both the hints and the characters themselves apparently serve as metaphors for some grand tale which for whatever reason, the writer chose to hide behind suggestion, foul language and extreme violence. Some call it art. Most moviegoers seeking a captivating story populated by characters who develop within the arc of the plot will find this "style" lacking.
To test whether or not 'Only God Fogives' is a film for you, watch several episodes of the original 'Miami Vice' television show and while doing so imagine each scene with far less dialog, louder music, disjointed events and every character as unlikeable, and set to the backdrop of a culture you know nothing about.
'Only God Fogives' offers up a minimalist cinematic art style, mixes it with monotonous color, uses its actors almost like mimes and then seeks to punctuate its purely visual substance with cohesive violence that serves only to shock rather than suit a specific relevance within the story arc.
I am certain most have read the synopsis however, one ought to discard that block of text as it really does not accurately convey what the viewer is in for. Rather, a better synopsis would be as follows. A grandmaster of a Thai martial art aids the police by lopping off limbs, gutting the bad guys and running through defenseless women - all with a sword he somehow carries out of sight along his spine. The real suspense in this film is wondering when and who the mysterious martial arts grandmaster is going to chop up next.
As a fan of the style of film making used by Nicolas Winding Refn in 'Drive', I must caution that while I wondered how said film would have played with an even less cohesive a narrative, the demonstration of such that is 'Only God Forgives' is not much to my liking.
Stories told or rather hinted at, in films like 'Only God Forgives' cheapen the value of human life and demand that the viewer readjust his or her own morals for the duration, or squirm in their seat as consequence.
Vapid characterization, barrages of hinting, hypnotic, smoky images and characters that amount to uniformly bland and mute save for one or two whose participation amounts to the spouting of foul language or use of bladed objects as performance aids, seek to convey the value of high art, yet ultimately reduce the sum they achieve when it all boils down to blood, guts and laughably shocking language.
Read as deeply as you choose into 'Only God Forgives' - if you are up for a lesson in antiquated Freudian psychoanalysis. Me, I'd rather get my cinematic fix elsewhere.
I cannot recommend 'Only God Forgives' to any particular fan-base. Two out of ten for bringing to the screen a martial arts style I was not familiar with, and making it look cool up on the silver screen.
If you've regularly watched movies for a decade or more, you've almost certainly encountered before this style of film making. The vast depiction of character time on screen is devoted to the making of various expressions and the performing of mostly subtle body language synchronized to the visual rhythms of settings and situations. The images here drop hints and both the hints and the characters themselves apparently serve as metaphors for some grand tale which for whatever reason, the writer chose to hide behind suggestion, foul language and extreme violence. Some call it art. Most moviegoers seeking a captivating story populated by characters who develop within the arc of the plot will find this "style" lacking.
To test whether or not 'Only God Fogives' is a film for you, watch several episodes of the original 'Miami Vice' television show and while doing so imagine each scene with far less dialog, louder music, disjointed events and every character as unlikeable, and set to the backdrop of a culture you know nothing about.
'Only God Fogives' offers up a minimalist cinematic art style, mixes it with monotonous color, uses its actors almost like mimes and then seeks to punctuate its purely visual substance with cohesive violence that serves only to shock rather than suit a specific relevance within the story arc.
I am certain most have read the synopsis however, one ought to discard that block of text as it really does not accurately convey what the viewer is in for. Rather, a better synopsis would be as follows. A grandmaster of a Thai martial art aids the police by lopping off limbs, gutting the bad guys and running through defenseless women - all with a sword he somehow carries out of sight along his spine. The real suspense in this film is wondering when and who the mysterious martial arts grandmaster is going to chop up next.
As a fan of the style of film making used by Nicolas Winding Refn in 'Drive', I must caution that while I wondered how said film would have played with an even less cohesive a narrative, the demonstration of such that is 'Only God Forgives' is not much to my liking.
Stories told or rather hinted at, in films like 'Only God Forgives' cheapen the value of human life and demand that the viewer readjust his or her own morals for the duration, or squirm in their seat as consequence.
Vapid characterization, barrages of hinting, hypnotic, smoky images and characters that amount to uniformly bland and mute save for one or two whose participation amounts to the spouting of foul language or use of bladed objects as performance aids, seek to convey the value of high art, yet ultimately reduce the sum they achieve when it all boils down to blood, guts and laughably shocking language.
Read as deeply as you choose into 'Only God Forgives' - if you are up for a lesson in antiquated Freudian psychoanalysis. Me, I'd rather get my cinematic fix elsewhere.
I cannot recommend 'Only God Forgives' to any particular fan-base. Two out of ten for bringing to the screen a martial arts style I was not familiar with, and making it look cool up on the silver screen.