If you're a fan of Ryan Gosling or Drive, this may not be the movie for you.
Only God Forgives is a film about a man (Julian) in Thailand whose brother is killed. When his gangster mother arrives to claim the body, he is pushed to enact revenge for brother's demise. Sound like a fun time? It's not. It's a great movie, but it is certainly not fun.
Ryan Gosling fans will be disappointed because he is very stoic in this movie. Gosling has maybe ten lines of dialogue in the whole movie. His expression is best described as blank stare. And he looks that way through the entire movie. And ladies, he keeps his shirt on the entire movie. Plus, he gets beaten so badly that his face is covered in bruises (and his eye swollen shut) for a large chunk of the run time. This isn't a Ryan Gosling movie. It's a movie that just happens to have him in it.
If you are a fan of Drive but have not sought out (and enjoyed) director Nicolas Winding Refn's previous films, you may not be prepared for Only God Forgives. The stylish cool of Drive is intact, but hyper-stylization is a trademark of Refn's. What you may not know is that Refn's films are also disturbingly violent, weirdly sexual, and divisive. Not only is Only God Forgives his slowest moving film, but it is also one of his most gross and unnerving.
Julian and his mother have a borderline (but maybe more) incestuous relationship. Their interactions are bizarre. Every action and word they exchange is loaded with awkward, sleazy sexuality and the camera really plays it up.
Now you might be the kind of person that has no problem with Oedipal relationships (to be fair, Kristin Scott Thomas looks really good), but what if I told you that Ryan Gosling plays a man whose hands/fists are analogues for his penis? Yep. And if you watch Nicolas Winding Refn movies, that is not even slightly weird. Once you realize that that is the case, all the long, fetishized close-ups of Gosling's hands become kinda disturbing. When you dissect the motives for his fights (to impress his mom, feelings of inadequacy, etc.), the violence takes on a crazy edge.
The standout performances are by Kristin Scott Thomas and Vithaya Pansringarm. Thomas' deranged, gangster mother is amazing to watch. She's manipulative and broken and heartless. She is given clunky and offensive dialogue and makes it sound completely natural. Vithaya Pansringarm plays the cop whom Julian is supposed to kill. He lives by a very strange and cold code of justice. The result is usually torture and/or dismemberment for those who wrong him. Then he sings karaoke.
There's plenty of other disturbing weirdness going on in Only God Forgives. This is the exactly the kind of gruesome art house film that I cannot get enough of. But it is not for everyone. Most movies require the viewer to meet them halfway. Only God Forgives will not meet you at all. You must accept the film for what it is. I personally loved it and look forward to hearing people complain about having watched it.
7.5 out of 10
Now you might be the kind of person that has no problem with Oedipal relationships (to be fair, Kristin Scott Thomas looks really good), but what if I told you that Ryan Gosling plays a man whose hands/fists are analogues for his penis? Yep. And if you watch Nicolas Winding Refn movies, that is not even slightly weird. Once you realize that that is the case, all the long, fetishized close-ups of Gosling's hands become kinda disturbing. When you dissect the motives for his fights (to impress his mom, feelings of inadequacy, etc.), the violence takes on a crazy edge.
The standout performances are by Kristin Scott Thomas and Vithaya Pansringarm. Thomas' deranged, gangster mother is amazing to watch. She's manipulative and broken and heartless. She is given clunky and offensive dialogue and makes it sound completely natural. Vithaya Pansringarm plays the cop whom Julian is supposed to kill. He lives by a very strange and cold code of justice. The result is usually torture and/or dismemberment for those who wrong him. Then he sings karaoke.
There's plenty of other disturbing weirdness going on in Only God Forgives. This is the exactly the kind of gruesome art house film that I cannot get enough of. But it is not for everyone. Most movies require the viewer to meet them halfway. Only God Forgives will not meet you at all. You must accept the film for what it is. I personally loved it and look forward to hearing people complain about having watched it.
7.5 out of 10
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