Review of Only God Forgives (2013) by James H — 29 Jan 2017

The title is 'Only God Forgives' but I don't even think God can forgive this one. I love Drive, it's one of my favourite films of this decade but this was too weird for my liking. I'll say what I liked first: the visuals are stunning, everything from the costume design to the cinematography and set pieces.

The score was also mesmerising. As for performances, Ryan Gosling is one of my favourite actors working today but he had nothing to work with in this film, he does his best but his lack of back story and even lines make it incredibly difficult.

I got the metaphors for guilt and God but the underlying themes, of incest in particular, the stomach scene and the pointless over the top violence (from a director who has admitted he has a fetish for it) just makes it so easy to dislike.

I feel like Refn doesn't really care what people think but if he does he really didn't help himself by putting certain things in the final movie.