Cannes Film Festival – Official Competition
Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Drive” was mediocre genre revisionism. His latest film, “Only God Forgives,” is an attempt at surrealist action that borders on the experimental. On principle, I’d like to say I preferred the latter since it was at least ambitious.
However, after a second watch from the comforts of my own bed (the first, a late-night screening in Cannes, put me to sleep for large chunks), I really cannot bring myself to endorse “Only God Forgives.” It aims for David Lynch or Alexander Jodorowsky, the great surrealist filmmaker to whom the film is dedicated, but falls far short of the mark. Teasing at a dreamlike experience is not enough – the film must deliver, and it cannot execute on its promise.
Refn’s film lacks any internal logic, bizarrely floating through non-related scenes of a sadistic Thai police officer and Ryan Gosling’s stoically mute Julian. All great actors run the risk of turning themselves into a cliché (see: Johnny Depp), and I’m sorry to report that we may have reached a tipping point with Gosling. He’s so frustratingly not a presence in the film that it does not play as tough anymore; it’s just plain obnoxious.
Thankfully, the film does deploy Kristin Scott Thomas to talk enough for the both of them. As a psychotic mother, perhaps a physical embodiment of Oedipal desire, she’s a firecracker who adds a jolt of energy every time she comes on screen. Sadly, that’s only a few scenes.
Marshall and the Movies 
Recent Comments