[Cinema] Ryan Gosling in Nicolas Winding Refn's "Only God Forgives"

Commodore · May 20, 2013

Haymitch said: ↑

Glad I'm not there yet. 26 and I love me some stylized violence.
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As we get older, the reality of our mortality becomes more intense, and I personally become more turned off by art that trivializes life.

BasketballReasons · May 21, 2013

I see this movie is coming out in Europe next week, but only mid-July in the US.

Does anyone know why they take so much time between release's?

The Real Shady · May 22, 2013

Well this is disappointing.

Ryan Gosling Booed as Cannes Pans 'Only God Forgives'

“Only God Forgives” but Cannes audiences don’t. Despite the fact that Ryan Gosling and director Nicholas Winding Refn’s first film together “Drive” received rave reviews and had everyone excited for their second collaboration, “Only God Forgives,” that early good buzz has been replaced with boos.

“Drive” earned Refn the Best Director award from the Cannes Film Fest’s jury in 2011, but it doesn’t appear that his equally violent follow-up will follow suit. According to those present at the film’s screenings on Wednesday, audience reactions to “Only God Forgives” were less than enthusiastic.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg reported a “ton of walkouts a number of boos” while New York Magazine’s Jada Yuan Tweeted that she and other members of the press were debating whether they heard a lot of boos or just “a smattering.” That and according to Hollywood.com’s Matt Patches, apparently Ryan Gosling only has 17 lines of dialogue.

And now that the critics present at the screening have had time to write up their thoughts and post their reviews online, it appears that the majority opinion is less than flattering.
“Movies really don’t get much worse than Nicholas Winding Refn‘s ‘Only God Forgives’,” wrote Hollywood Elsewhere’s Jeffrey Wells. “It’s a sh-- macho fantasy — hyperviolent, ethically repulsive, sad, nonsensical, deathly dull, snail-paced, idiotic, possibly woman-hating, visually suffocating, pretentious. I realize I sound like Rex Reed on one of his rants, but trust me, please — this is a defecation by an over-praised, over-indulged director who thinks anything he craps out is worthy of your time. I felt violated, s*** upon, sedated, narcotized, appalled and bored stiff.”

Awards Daily critic Sasha Stone wasn’t as appalled by the film as Wells, but also made note of the gratuitous violence.

“Nicolas Winding Refn’s follow-up to Drive takes him farther away from traditional narrative and deeper into abstract expressionism. His painter’s eye makes Only God Forgives something beautiful to behold, awash in deep reds and geometric, carefully thought out shot compositions. But what it amounts to, in the end, is the careful work of a serial killer — not literally out there killing women but indulging in one bloody killing after another, practically licking the knife afterwards.”

Still not everyone disliked Refn’s effort, which revolves around a small-time crook in Thailand who, with strong encouragement/insistence from his mother, sets out to avenge his brother’s murder. Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw gave the film a five-star review, touting its great subtlety and aesthetic brilliance.

“‘Only God Forgives’ will, understandably, have people running for the exits, and running for the hills. It is very violent, but Winding Refn's bizarre infernal creation, an entire created world of fear, really is gripping. Every scene, every frame, is executed with pure formal brilliance. I'm afraid it's going to be even nastier the next time I watch it.”
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http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie...-cannes-pans-only-god-forgives-175321204.html

percicles · May 22, 2013

It's getting mixed reviews, Either people love it or loathe it. No in between.

Peter Bradshaw of The Gaudian gave it a perfect score.

Cannes 2013: Only God Forgives – first look review
Ryan Gosling and Nicolas Winding Refn re-team for an emotionally breathtaking, aesthetically brilliant and immensely violent thriller set amongst US expatriates in Bangkok

It may not win the Palme D'Or, but it could win the Walkout D'Or, a gold trophy of a cinema-seat banged up into the upright position. Nicolas Winding Refn's Only God Forgives is a glitteringly strange, mesmeric and mad film set among American criminal expatriates in Bangkok.

It is ultraviolent, creepy and scary, an enriched-uranium cake of pulp, with a neon sheen. The first scenes made me think that Wong Kar-wai had made a new film called In the Mood for Fear or In the Mood for Hate.

Ryan Gosling plays Julian, the co-owner of a Muay Thai boxing club with his brother Billy (Tom Burke): an operation which is a front for selling drugs. Both brothers are naturally angry and violent, though in keeping his feelings in check, Julian is of course by far the more unsettling.

When Billy indulges his taste for violence and misogynist hate one night, and is himself murdered by his victim's father, Julian realises that he is expected to discharge the gangster's ultimate responsibility: revenge. But a twinge of conscience, or a twist of pain at the memory of those misdeeds which drove him from America in the first place, won't let him kill.

This inability brings two terrifying people into his life and into the movie: one is Julian's mother Crystal, played by Kristin Scott Thomas, enraged at Julian's pathetic disloyalty. The other is the mysterious plainclothes police officer Chang (Vithaya Pansringarm), who roams the streets armed with a sword: a sharia-samurai of justice. It is the impassive Chang who first discovered Billy's victim and for enigmatic reasons of his own, created the situation in which Julian found himself agonisingly incapable of that payback his mother expects.

Chang could be a Zen master, whose vocation is to proselytise for the futility of revenge. He could be that god who insists that vengeance is solely his and only he will repay. Or he could be the ultimate sadist and tyrant, a Machiavel with a telepathic sense of how his victims are to be drawn into his power. Either way, Julian — clenched and unhappy in the three-piece suit he has put on for a dinner date with his mother, and never takes off — realises he has to challenge Chang to a fight.

The film exerts an eerie and woozy grip from the outset, with many nightmarish scenes of people walking down long, claustrophobic corridors, somehow always pulsing with dark red and green light, like the subway in Gaspar Noé's Irréversible or the tenement corridor in Scorsese's Taxi Driver. There are some deeply disturbing karaoke club scenes, with crooning songs about unrequited love. (Winding Refn may also have taken something from the British film-maker Thomas Clay, and his Bangkok-set film Soi Cowboy.) Larry Smith's cinematography, Beth Mickle's production design, and the art direction by Russell Barnes and Witoon Suanyai are staggeringly good.

And however incredible this sounds, Only God Forgives has moments of great subtlety. When Julian has to go for dinner with his mother, he clearly anticipates it will be an occasion in which Crystal will pitilessly humiliate him about his cowardice and the size of his penis. So he brings along as his date the prostitute for whom he is a regular: Maï (Yayaying Rhatha Phongam).

Maï's face shows how touched and moved she is when she realises Julian wants him to meet his mother — and then quietly, deeply wounded when Julian says that they must "pretend to be a couple". It is only Maï who emerges from the dinner, and indeed the movie, with any dignity and self-respect.

There is another fascinating touch: when Chang is himself under threat, and must hit back against those tormentors employed by Crystal, he finds himself in what appears to be a cinema storeroom surrounded by reels of film, and will impose his violent authority on the manager, who is there with his boy. It is this boy who makes a strange, almost involuntary gesture with his hand towards his back, and a fraction of a second later we realise what is happening: Chang is about to unsling his sword. For some reason, I thought of the scene from Macbeth in which Banquo is slain in front of his child.

Only God Forgives will, understandably, have people running for the exits, and running for the hills. It is very violent, but Winding Refn's bizarre infernal creation, an entire created world of fear, really is gripping. Every scene, every frame, is executed with pure formal brilliance. I'm afraid it's going to be even nastier the next time I watch it.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/may/22/cannes-only-good-forgives-ryan-gosling-review
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J Sizzle · May 22, 2013

I love some over the top violence. I'll still be seeing this, but it's kind of disappointing that it wasn't well received.

VanityHalfBlack · May 22, 2013

The presses at Cannes are a bunch of stuck up *****... I'd tell Mr Refn to take his movie to a more subdued crowd with handlebar mustaches and ironic sunglasses and that place would be Austin, Tx!!!! SXSW or Fantastic Fest!!!!

Outlier · May 22, 2013

Just as I expected. As with all his movies, all lack substance and story. He's a master of style, but everything else falls flat.

GRENDEL · May 23, 2013

Outlier said: ↑

Just as I expected. As with all his movies, all lack substance and story. He's a master of style, but everything else falls flat.
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For all the love that Drive got I was letdown when I finally saw it. Very much a case of what you mentioned above, great style but lacking in other areas.

BasketballReasons · May 24, 2013

WTF did I just see?

Signed,

a fan of 'Drive'.

Outlier · May 24, 2013

He could have easily been the Kubrick of this era. Too bad.

DreamShook · May 24, 2013

this is probably the real reason Gosling decided to take a year off.

BasketballReasons · May 25, 2013

Outlier said: ↑

He could have easily been the Kubrick of this era. Too bad.
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Exactly what I was hoping.

And during the movie I kept trying to find connections and links and stuff like I do when watching Kubrick movies, but I couldn't find any.
I'd really like to hear an explanation of each scene by the director, because **** was completely deconstructed.

VanityHalfBlack · May 25, 2013

How did you see this movie already?

The Real Shady · May 25, 2013

BasketballReasons said: ↑

WTF did I just see?

Signed,

a fan of 'Drive'.
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This is what I was afraid of after the Cannes reviews. If Cannes loved Drive and ended up booing this one then that can't be good. Oh well, they all can't be winners.

VanityHalfBlack · May 25, 2013

Cannes 2013 First Impression: ONLY GOD FORGIVES Is A Hyper-Violent Feast For The Senses http://twitchfilm.com/2013/05/cannes-2013-first-impression-only-god-forgives.html via @TwitchFilm

Few films are as anticipated around Twitch as Nicolas Winding Refn's follow-up to Drive and re-teaming with Ryan Gosling, Only God Forgives. The film has had its premier at Cannes and boy is it going to be divisive. More art film than drama, this is an immaculately constructed production where every shot is a masterpiece. Just try to look away.

From Cliff Martinez's score that alternates between full orchestral and electronic piano to some of the most exquisite production design and cinematography ever put to film, this is a cinematic feast for the senses. Even the special effects makeup work is brilliant with every sliced off body part squirting out just the right amount of practical blood. Oh and there is plenty of blood.

While many will surely argue that this is all at the expense of story, there is enough of one here to keep things moving, even if barely, and Kristin Scott Thomas is everything she's advertised to be. Get ready, the most badass art film ever is coming your way.

RADiUS-TWC has dated the film in the US for July 19.
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percicles · Jun 14, 2013

Only God Forgives - Official Trailer #2

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/LXQskTJS6Eg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Daedalus · Jun 14, 2013

i re-watched "Godfather II" and De Niro's mannerisms & presence brought Gosling to mind. And, yes...i've got the good *****.

VanityHalfBlack · Jun 14, 2013

Like Drive, Gosling doesn't say **** in this movie, lol..

percicles · Jul 4, 2013

Only God Forgives Official UK Trailer 2

I said God Damn God Damn! Trailer of the year.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/reIxnLrtY5g" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Canadiandude · Jul 5, 2013

The Real Shady said: ↑

Well this is disappointing.

http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie...-cannes-pans-only-god-forgives-175321204.html
Click to expand...

“Movies really don’t get much worse than Nicholas Winding Refn‘s ‘Only God Forgives’,” wrote Hollywood Elsewhere’s Jeffrey Wells. “It’s a sh-- macho fantasy — hyperviolent, ethically repulsive, sad, nonsensical, deathly dull, snail-paced, idiotic, possibly woman-hating, visually suffocating, pretentious. I realize I sound like Rex Reed on one of his rants, but trust me, please — this is a defecation by an over-praised, over-indulged director who thinks anything he craps out is worthy of your time. I felt violated, s*** upon, sedated, narcotized, appalled and bored stiff.”

Couldn't have written a better ad.
Will watch.

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[Cinema] Ryan Gosling in Nicolas Winding Refn's "Only God Forgives"

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[Cinema] Ryan Gosling in Nicolas Winding Refn's "Only God Forgives"

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