Time: 90 Minutes
Age Rating: R18 – Sadistic violence, sexual themes and offensive language
Cast:
Ryan Gosling as Julian Thompson
Kristin Scott Thomas as Crystal Thompson
Vithaya Pansringarm as Lieutenant Chang
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn

Nicolas Winding Refn is something of a polarising filmmaker, but Only God Forgives is quite possibly his most divisive movie, especially when it was the follow up to Drive (arguably his most accessible and conventional movie). While I understood the reactions, I really liked it when I watched it for the first time, and upon my most recent viewing, I loved it even more.

Only God Forgives starts out as a deceptively simple revenge story, but a lot of its approaches to storytelling won’t work for many people. It is short at 90 minutes long but really makes the most of this runtime. It is very drawn out and very slowly paced. There’s also a real lack of dialogue, there are so many instances of shots of characters just staring and not doing anything. It’s also a very brutal story, very strange and a little offputting to some. Personally, I found it to be intriguing and captivating from beginning to end, and I was caught up in the dreamlike and surreal atmosphere and vibe.

Ryan Gosling plays the protagonist here after leading Refn’s previous film, Drive. In that movie, Gosling was relatively stoic and said very little, and that’s even more the case with Only God Forgives. There are so many instances of him not saying anything and just staring, with a few exceptions. Once again, he does well with this sort of performance, and he expresses a lot just through his eyes and expressions alone. Kristen Scott Thomas is excellent as Gosling’s mother. She is such a commanding presence and uncomfortable and unnerving, especially in the scenes between her and Gosling. Another standout is Vithaya Pansringarm, who also has such a godlike presence as a mysterious samurai cop of sorts.

Nicolas Winding Refn directs this, and this is probably one of my favourite movies on an aesthetic level. The cinematography is stunning, with phenomenal neon visuals, and perfectly composed shots. The lingering shots really allow you to take everything in too. Cliff Martinez’s synth score is outstanding and transcendent, it’s probably among my favourite scores and really added so much to the film. All of those elements combined with the smooth editing help to create a truly hypnotic atmosphere and vibe. This stylised and dreamlike approach is even contrasted and broken up by the brutal and unrelenting on screen violence.

Only God Forgives is a bold, hypnotic, visually gorgeous, intriguing film, directed excellently and with great performances and an outstanding score. It definitely isn’t for everyone, but if you do like any of Nicolas Winding Refn’s past work, I do think that it is worth a watch at the very least.