Review of Only God Forgives (2013) by Stuart P — 17 Nov 2013

Danish auteur Nicolas Winding Refn follows up the violent, visceral 'Drive' with this, an equally brutal, noirish, baffling, formless work that, despite being obviously incomprehensible and equipped with an almost rebellious refusal to adhere to conventional narrative technique, is undoubtedly cut from pure cinematic cloth.

Ryan Gosling plays Julian, an American criminal living in Bangkok who pursues brutal cop Lt. Chang (a darkly charismatic Vithaya Pansringarm) to avenge the death of his brother. Kristin Scott Thomas, in a departure from her usual roles, plays Crystal, Julian's terrifying mother in what is surely the film's other standout performance.

Refn drenches Bangkok in hues of bloody red and mystical blue, feverishly prowling the neon-rain streets in search of his amorphous fix - much like his previous 'Valhalla Rising', but with less pseudo-psychedelic postulation.

There is much that draws one in, from its structureless telling of a non-story to the sudden departures into song and its brutal, pervasive violence. 'Only God Forgives' may be formless, foreboding and bizarre, but it certainly is not frivolous or pretentious.

And that's saying something.