Review of The Neon Demon (2016) by Jimmy J — 29 Jul 2018

You can say a lot about Nicolas Winding Refn's work - some good, some bad - but you certainly can't say he's not original.

'The Neon Demon' is a weird movie. It's a beautiful weird movie though, both visually and audibly. As with everything he does, Refn has clearly put extensive amounts of planning and painstaking effort into the crafting of his latest entry, and the result is an experience which I feel could only be delivered by him. I really like the concept and he explores the infectious and sometimes almost satanic nature of the modern fashion industry in a very... well... 'refn-ey' way(?) [citation needed]. In all seriousness though, I found the topic he was exploring very interesting and his approach to exploring said topic even more interesting still. That being said, the result of all this refn-ey-ness is that it's also slightly hard to judge its quality, at least on first viewing. I was certainly interested and entertained, but when you use necrofilia and cannibalism to explore the theme of beauty, I'm not sure what to think.

'The Neon Demon' is a weird movie.