Review of The Neon Demon (2016) by Orlando O — 03 Oct 2016

The Neon Demon is stylized and flashy with an amazing music score. It does not make up for the rest of the psychological drama film from poor pacing, one dimensional characters, boring plot, and a direction thats more stylized than having a cohesive direction. Director Nicolas Winding Refn previous film like Drive is slightly similiar when it comes to his artwork direction. Keeping the characters silent as much as possible, let the music score and colorful neon lights being depended on telling the story. Thats how The Neon Demon also suffers and being more of an artistic art film than having a memorable plot.

Story follows Jesse (Elle Fanning) an inspiring model, who moved to Los Angeles to being a model after leaving home behind as her parents have passed away. She gains the fame with her modeling talent while creating tension and jealousy with other models like Sarah (Abby Lee) and Gigi (Belle Heathcote).

Cliff Martinez does well delivering a beautiful haunting music score and his work is well used in the film. The direction is flashy and stylized. At times, the set design and lighting is amazing. But it does take away from the storytelling when the movie feels like a overly long ad modeling commercial. It can be beautiful to look at, and it can also be very disturbing. An odd looking film, when you are left wondering on certain aspects on what the purpose of a few scenes and the dark theme in a world of modeling.

The pace is really slow and boring. When there is huge moments of silence and characters are left mute, only expressing through emotions. And the film depends on its flashy colorful style as a storytelling technique. The script does lack in giving any characterization with Ella Fanning, Abby Lee, and Belle Heathcote. Nicolas Winding Hefr films are usually hits or misses. Cant say there is a in betweem answer to his work. The Neon Demon is definitely a miss, which discovers the concept of the dark nature in the modeling industry and a very odd film.