When Only God Forgives was formally green-lit I was excited. I was just coming down from the high that was Drive, so I was eager to see what the combination of Ryan Gosling and Nicolas Winding Refn would deliver a second time. The trailer was released earlier this year, and it was awesome. It looked pulpy, dark, violent, and poetic. In other words, it looked like a spiritual sequel to Drive. Then it premiered at Cannes to a sea of boos. That in and of itself does not make it necessarily bad, because Cannes is a ribald audience. Anyway, the film has mostly bad, to mixed reviews and here I am to offer yet another opinion.
Only God Forgives is very good, as a Nicolas Winding Refn film. I say that because many people only know him from his breakthrough Drive. Refn revels in the poetry of blood spatter. If you look back at his filmography, this is not all that different from those films. There is little dialogue, and if you thought Ryan Gosling was a man of few words in Drive, be prepared for even less. The plot is simple; Gosling plays Julian, a man more than likely haunted by his past, living in Thailand running a boxing gym. After his probably crazy older brother is killed for murdering a 14 year old prostitute, Julian’s mother, played excellently by Kristin Scott Thomas, demands he find out who is responsible for the murder and exact justice. The only problem is that the man overtly responsible for Julian’s brother’s death is a Thai supercop. His nickname is “The Angel of Vengeance” and he acts as such. The bulk of the movie is well-choreographed dance between two men well aware of their oncoming confrontation.
I hate to give too much of the film away because that shouldn’t be the point of review, but I think this is an extremely divisive film. The color palette is so saturated with reds, specifically of the neon variety, you might think there is a problem with the projector, but I assure you it was intentional. The violence is pretty extreme as well, but I think it to be tactful. Refn excels at staging films so calmly, that when the film reaches its violent peaks, they feel earned. There are gougings, stabbings, disembowlings, and a few amputations that all come at the hands of Vithaya Pansringarm’s vengeful cop. The part of this film that I think will make people especially uncomfortable is the semi-implied relationship of Julian’s mother, and his brother, Billy. Thoughts of Oedipus will dance in your head and make you want to shower.
Ultimately, it appears as though this film is a direct response to the cross-over appeal achieved after Drive. It was a way of Refn luring in eyeballs to see the kinds of stories he really likes telling. This film will not be popular, nor will it garner cult status, but as a piece of an accomplished young director’s filmography, it is an excellent addition in my opinion. It also goes to show that Refn could make a killer Wolverine film if any studio ever had the balls to just tell the R-rated bloody take on the popular Marvel character. I doubt he’ll be adapting things anytime soon, but if he did, it should be that. In closing, if you liked Drive cause it had an oddball sense of heart to it, this film is not for you. If you liked Drive as an extension of Refn’s filmography, you should not miss this film. It’s playing on VOD, and theres no real reason to see it in theaters. Watch it at home, but not while you are doing anything else. The silence is just as important as the dialogue.
7/10
About Russ Stevens
Russ Stevens is an editor and writer at Rookerville and a guidance counselor at Nyack HS. He mostly writes about either loving or hating things. In his spare time, he performs Improv comedy with his troupe Priest and The Beekeeper and is a co-producer of their monthly variety show Pig Pile. He loves all the New York sports teams that are historically bad, and he hates lateness more than anything in the world.