Reactions to Only God Forgives are going to be defined by expectations. Its star, Ryan Gosling, is an all-purpose arts polymath equally at home with music and film, who has directed and written as well as acted. Its director, the Danish-born Nicolas Winding Refn, has no problems with pushing genres beyond their limits despite working within America’s film industry. Gosling was in Refn’s 2011 film Drive, and their follow-up might have been expected to develop that film’s approach by once again hyper-stylising the familiar.
To some extent, Only God Forgives does. But it also goes further – and further out – than any of either’s previous work. The dedication to Alejandro Jodorowsky hints that Only God Forgives will be strange and unreal. And it is. Instead of being a hindrance, Refn’s colour blindness has given the film and its Bangkok setting a rich, artificial palette which renders everything about it otherworldly. Gosling’s aloof portrayal of his lead character, Julian, generates a power integral to the film’s impact. Kristin Scott Thomas’s turn as his mother might play against type, but it’s just as forceful. The violence, when it comes (which is regularly), has a detachment similar to that inherent in the work of David Cronenberg.
Only God Forgives is fantastic and hypnotic. It succeeds on its own terms. The extras on the DVD are interesting, but do not add to the understanding of this formidable film. There's a making-of in which we see Refn setting up scenes and special effects being devised, but nothing about what underpins the film is given away. Refn’s commentary track is fascinating and frequently hilarious, but remains oblique. Understanding isn’t necessary though. The best approach is to go into Only God Forgives cold and allow this masterpiece to cast its spell.
Overleaf: watch Nicolas Winding Refn discussing the making of Only God Forgives
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