ONLY GOD FORGIVES: MISUNDERSTOOD MASTERPIECE

If Drive is like cocaine...then this is like really good acid - Nicolas Winding Refn (Brooklyn Academy Of Music, 2013)

Jackie Brown. Trouble Every Day. Dogville. The Brown Bunny. Inland Empire. These are all GREAT modern films (in my opinion) that were initially hated, dismissed, misunderstood and/or underrated partially due to the fact that they came after such popular & highly acclaimed works that were intimidating acts to follow (Pulp Fiction, Beau Travail, Dancer In The Dark, Buffalo 66 & Mulholland Drive, respectively). Only God Forgives will probably see the same fate but the difference here is that it will probably remain hated & misunderstood for a long time.
Normally I hate movie reviews that constantly reference the filmmaker's previous work over and over but its kinda difficult not too with this one. Drive & Only God Forgives exist in the same violent, synthesized, neon-lit, redish tinted, criminal underworld. I honestly loved this movie very much but I don’t see people instantly falling in love with it like they did with Drive (sure Drive had it's detractors but generally speaking that movie is loved a lot more than its hated). 

On more than one occasion at the screening last night there were moments in Only God Forgives when the audience would laugh at a scene that was CLEARLY supposed to be taken seriously so that should tell you guys something...

While Drive was directly influenced by the styles of Michael Mann, Martin Scorsese & Takeshi Kitano (all filmmakers who have more than a few strong similarities & connections between each other) Nicolas Winding Refn's latest film draws inspiration from sources that don’t exactly go together. Only God Forgives is a cross between the world of Stanley Kubrick (the polarizing hallway shots, people staring intensely at stuff, bold colors & odd moments of silence) and the world of straight to VHS/late night cable action movies from the early 90's that usually featured; Jeanne Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, a pre-Crow Brandon Lee, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa or some combination of those four actors (the plot, the overuse of slow-motion, the kickboxing/martial arts angle, the lone white guy in Asia, etc). Personally, I think what Refn did here was great. I grew up on those bad action/martial arts films as a kid and today I love cinema that falls under the "art house" label so the combination of these two cinematic worlds is pretty awesome to me. But my perspective and taste is unique. Most people don’t place Stanley Kubrick & Dolph Lundgren on the same pedestal like I do so they're gonna have a tough time getting through Only God Forgives.

Only God Forgives - Refn (L), The Shining - Kubrick (R)
Stanley Kubrick isn't the first & only filmmaker to shoot hallways in such an intriguing way but I think you all get the point I'm trying to drive home in the images above. Nicolas Winding Refn even used Eyes Wide Shut Cinematographer; Larry Smith for Only God Forgives (Smith also shot Fear X & Bronson). 

That glossy/high art/sleek Michael Mann influence that I love so much is still evident in this. Only God Forgives is darkly lit & gritty yet at the same time smooth & sleek just like Thief, Manhunter & Collateral. The way Michael Mann shoots bars & night clubs in Miami Vice, Collateral & Heat is seen in Only God Forgives as well. Refn kinda blurs that line between "good guy"/the cop & "bad guy"/the criminal just like Mann usually does in his work - The relationship between Ryan Gosling/"The Criminal" & Vathaya Panssringarm/"The Cop" in Only God Forgives is pretty similar to the relationships between Deniro & Pacino in Heat or Johnny Depp & Christian Bale in Public Enemies. There's this strange fascination/respect between the criminal and the law. All throughout Only God Forgives Ryan Gosling looks at his nemesis ("Chang") with curiosity, fear & intrigue.

Nicolas Winding Refn also draws upon those little moments that often go unnoticed in Michael Mann's work. In Miami Vice there's a brief moment when Crocket/Collin Farell stares off in to the sea when he should be paying attention to the interrogation his fellow cops are giving to an informant...

Miami Vice - Mann (2006)

There's tons of moments like that in Only God Forgives where Gosling is staring off at something with this blank intensity which can be traced right back to Kubrick as he's the king of that intense stare shot...

Only God Forgives - Refn (L), Eyes Wide Shut - Kubrick (M), Manhunter - Mann (R)

There's also an obvious touch of Gaspar Noe (another filmmaker heavily influenced by Kubrick, yet closer to Refn's generation) in Only God Forgives from the opening credits to the violence we see all throughout the film (Gaspar Noe actually helped on the production of this movie for a few days and is listed in the credits). If Only God Forgives doesn't exist in the same universe as Drive, Collateral or Eyes Wide Shut, it definitely exists in the same universe as Noe's Enter The Void in terms of dreaminess and atmosphere.
But Kubrick, Mann and Noe aside - this is still very much a Nicolas Winding Refn film: Random violent outbursts, awkwardly quiet yet viscous antihero main characters, a synthesized film score and extremely slow moments. Refn even reused a lot of shots found in his older films within Only God Forgives...

Only God Forgives / Pusher 2

Only God Forgives / Pusher

Only God Forgives / Bronson

 

If you're like me and followed Nicolas Winding Refn's career prior to Drive you'd know that instant success is something pretty foreign to him, outside of the Pusher trilogy, so it isn't surprising that Only God Forgives has been getting negative reviews. This new film fits right in with just about all of Refn's pre-Drive/post-Pusher work - Fear X (2003) caused Refn to go bankrupt and forced him to make a film he didn’t really wanna make (Pusher 2) just to get out of debt. Valhalla Rising (2009) was falsely advertised as some kind of gladiator/fighting movie when in fact it was a slow, trippy, atmospheric art film which didn’t sit too well with a lot of movie goers who were expecting something else (although the film does maintain a small cult following that I am very much a part of). Bronson (2008), another recent cult film, was an instant hit with angry men who love violence and yelling, but other than that it split everyone else down the middle. It took me almost two years to even consider Bronson an "ok" film. Nicolas Winding Refn's career kinda mirrors that of Donald Cammell (White Of The Eye, Demon Seed, Wild Side, etc) except a lot less tragic and on a slightly larger scale. 

In the film Ryan Gosling plays "Julian" - a gangster son of a femme fatale named "Crystal" (played by Kristin Scott Thomas with the attitude of Donatella Versace mixed with Naomi Campbell in a blonde wig). 

After Julian's brother; Billy is killed at the order of "Chang" (a badass Thai police officer with a love for Karaoke) Crystal wants everyone responsible for Billy's death to pay. She seeks out her younger son Julian to take care of it but given their complicated mother/son relationship (along with the horrific crime Julian's brother committed to begin with), Julian initially refuses to take her orders. But after a series of events he suddenly changes his mind and challenges Chang to a fight in order to settle the score.

If you loved Drive there's no guarantee you'll enjoy Only God Forgives. Even the music, once again scored by Cliff Martinez, is a lot darker and less pop-sounding this time around.
Although slightly more sinister and even more quiet, Ryan Gosling's performance is somewhat similar to the character he played in Drive.
This is a pretty dark film. Chang is one of Refn's cruelest characters (he prefers a sword to a gun), there's multiple scenes where people get their hands and/or arms chopped off or cut in too at the drop of a hat and there's some SERIOUS incestuous undertones between Julian & Crystal. A lot of hype has been made about Kristen Scott Thomas' portrayal as the bitchy villainous femme fatale because she doesn't normally portray these kinds of characters but after her recent performance in Love Crime I don't find her portrayal as Crystal that far fetched.

Besides Crystal, all the other characters in this film barely speak (no, seriously). The spacing between the dialogue in Only God Forgives is so far apart at times that when someone finally does speak (usually delivering two or three words in a strange unemotional way) it almost catches you off guard. Once again, this is another aspect I found to be interesting but it's understandable if others aren't in to it.

 

Vathaya Panssringarm's portrayal as Chang was the most fascinating to me. If there's ever been a "badass" he's certainly it. In on scene he allows the father of a murdered underage prostitute to beat his daughters' killer to death. Then in an unexpected switch he cuts off the father's hand as punishment for allowing his daughter to become a prostitute in the first place (this is a very eye for an eye kind of film). It should be noted that even though Vathaya Panssringarm is listed as Chang in the credits, no one ever actually addresses him by his name at any point in the film which adds to his mystique. He just kinda glides through the film as a sword wielding angel of vengeance...

My enjoyment of Only God Forgives is kinda bitter sweet. I loved it but I like feel once people see this when it opens (on Friday) I don’t think I'll be able to openly praise it without constantly hearing: "REALLY? You liked THAT?!" I'm sure there's a few folks out there who'll love it like I did but not many. 

This is a pretty existential story buried underneath a violent gangster movie yet it's understandable if some people find this film very flawed. There's quite a few random moments that may have some people going; "...huh?" (strange hallucination sequences, random karaoke scenes and aggressive moments that are totally uncalled for) plus the overall motivation of the characters is a little questionable at times.

But for some strange reason I loved almost everything about this movie. I just don’t know if I have the energy to defend it so I'm gonna quietly love it by myself like I do with Terrence Malick's recent work.

If you have the same kind of love for Showdown In Little Tokyo as well as 2001: A Space Odyssey and aren't bothered by the kinds of plot holes found in Michael Mann's films because they're so cool (something I struggle with) then chances are you'll enjoy this. However, if you like constant dialogue and for movies to make sense then you may wanna stay away from this.

"DID YOU REALLY EXPECT THAT TO GET NOMINATED?" ...Sure. Why Not? (a quick lil' rant about DRIVE)

Sorry but this has been bothering me for the last few days and I have to speak on it. Although I'm still very annoyed about Michael Fassbinder ('Shame') & Albert Brooks ('Drive') getting snubbed, I'm slowly becoming MORE annoyed about 'Drive' not getting nominated for BEST PICTURE (and besides, Fassbender & Brooks aren't even the worse snubs in the academy's history). Over the last couple of weeks I've heard way too many people ask the same question: "C'mon, did you REALLY think Drive was gonna get nominated?" At first I shrugged it off and just agreed like; "Yeah, I guess you're right." But when I started to really think about it, what film had more of a cultural impact last year? What film was referenced more on television, parodied as much on viral sites like funny or die, vimeo & youtube and just generally talked about among everyone? 'Drive'! Us guys wanted to be "The Driver" (don't lie, you know its true) and women wanted to be in Carey Mulligan's position. From Ryan Gosling's scorpion jacket that became a popular Halloween costume last year, to the films soundtrack which you could overhear coming out of the headphones of the person sitting next to you on the train (that happened to me)...what other movie besides 'Drive' had that much of an impact last year? I don't remember anyone watching George Clooney in 'The Descendants' and going; "I'm gonna start wearing a Hawaiian shirt so I can be cool like George Clooney!" For those of you who have seen 'Drive'; are you honestly gonna tell me that Ryan Gosling's crazy glare at Carey Mulligan after he stomps the bad guys face in (along with all the other unexpected violence) didn't stay stuck in your head for at least a day? For those of you who saw 'Drive' and actually drive a car on a regular basis; you honestly didn't feel "cool" driving on the highway at night after the first time you saw 'Drive'? Be honest with yourself. Say what you want, but 'Drive' was a MINI-cultural phenomenon for the last quarter of 2011. It gained a cult following faster than any recent film I've seen. Just because the movie isn't about a middle aged man trying to find himself and make peace with his family while his wife is in a coma ('The Descendants') or the loss of a father during 9/11 ('Extremly Loud, Incredibly Close') or an epic war drama about a boy and his horse ('Warhosre') doesn't mean the film cant be great or worthy of an academy award nomination. What's wrong with showing respect to a film that's ultra cool as long as the film is good (or GREAT in Drive's case) and brings something different & new to the table?

Conan O'Brien wearing a scorpion jacket from 'Drive'

Anime dedication for 'Drive' which became one of the more popular viral videos of the last few months. I don't remember anyone making one of these for 'Hugo' or 'The Help'

'Drive Thru' parody from funnyordie.com

Aziz Ansari on "Parks & Recreation"

Cover for Symmetry's latest album; "Music for Imaginary Films", which not only got its inspiration for the cover art, but the actual music itself is very derivative of Cliff Martinez's score. Did any musicians pay homage to the music in 'The Tree Of Life' or 'Warhorse'??

Although 'Drive' will never have the same impact as something like 'Pulp Fiction', on a smaller scale, it was essentially this year's Pulp Fiction. 'Drive' referenced and pulled together the films and styles of everyone from early Michael Mann ('Thief' and Mann's use of Tangerine Dream's synthesized score) & William Friedken ('To live & Die in LA') to more "obscure" directors like Kenneth Anger (the scorpion jacket), Gaspar Noe (the extreme violence & the face smashing) & Takashi Kitano (also the extreme violence and specifically the elevator scene), just like Tarantino referenced & pulled together everything from the styles of Godard & Scorsese to Sonny Chiba & Blaxpoitation films in 'Pulp Fiction'. How many neo-noir's can you honesty name that mix the "arthouse" element of Andrei Tarkovsky & Kenneth Anger, with the cool visual technical qualities of Michael Mann along with the blood, guts & violence from vintage Cronenberg or 'Oldboy' and STILL manage to have conventional qualities to please the average movie goer? I'd love to hear what you all come up with (if you can actually come up with anything at all).

No disrespect to SOME of the films that got nominated ('The Artist', 'Moneyball' & 'Midnight In Paris'), but when it comes to so some of the others that got nominated...shit just doesn't add up. 'The Help' has done absolutely NOTHING new or progressive and has told us NOTHING new about race problems in America. It's 2012. Unless you have something new to bring to the table in terms of race relations or racism, you're just making a slight variation of the same movie over and over from 'Mississippi Burning' & 'Driving Miss Daisy' to 'To Kill A Mockingbird' & 'Rosewood'. Lets do something new. And I still have yet to find anything outstanding or exceptional about 'The Descendants' (or Alexander Payne's entire filmography for that matter if you really wanna go there). And has anyone actually seen 'Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close' or 'Warhorse'? I don't think I know one person who has.

I know I shouldn't get too bent outta shape about 'Drive' not getting nominated because at the end of the day people will remember it years from now (and I'm sure we're going to be seeing quite a few films that draw influence and inspiration from 'Drive' in the near future), while almost half of the films that did get nominated will be forgotten about over time.

THIEF: REQUIRED VIEWING FOR FANS OF 'DRIVE'

We're giving Claire Denis a break for the next few blog entries and focusing on another Pinnland Empire favorite: Michael Mann (see my recent reviews of 'Ali' and my revamped review of 'Miami Vice'). Everything i read about 'Drive' (my review included) mentions Michael Mann's 'Thief' (a personal favorite of mine). And rightfully so. 'Drive' and 'Thief' have similar plots, vibe, soundtracks as well as very similar opening and closing sequences. Hell...both films even use a similar font in their opening credits (as i noted in my review of 'Drive' last month). Even the main characters in both films have their own specific set of rules that they go by in their criminal activities that are embedded in our minds. With James Caan's character in 'Thief' its; No furs, no coin collections, no stocks certificates, no treasury bonds, no nothin'. Just diamonds and cash. With Ryan Gosling its; you give me a time and a place, I give you a 5 minute window. I don't sit in while you're running it down, I don't carry gun. I drive. And I don't have an issue with Nicholas Winding Refn borrowing from 'Thief' at all. 'Drive' is in my top 3 of 2011. But I'm just a little concerned that a lot of people reading all these reviews of 'Drive' aren't familiar Michael Mann's early crime drama. In 'Thief' James Caan plays a professional ex-con jewel thief/safe cracker ("Frank") who's hired by a big time gangster ("Leo") to do a series of heists. Things go great at first, but when Frank and Leo butt heads over their agreement (Frank made it clear at the beginning he only wanted to do one or two more jobs, but Leo has other plans) he has to save himself and protect his family (his wife, played by Tuesday Weld, and their adopted baby) from Leo and his henchmen. 'Thief' might be Michael Mann at his most gritty (right down to the 12 bit synthesizers used by Tangerine Dream who scored the film). Many older fans of Mann's work who aren't happy with the direction his films have taken in the last decade consider 'Thief' to be one of his best works.

What's so great about this film is that it's a great example of Mann's evolution as a filmmaker. This was his second film (first to be shown in theaters). There's no digital handheld cinematography, no fish eye lens close-up shots of his actor's faces, yet you could see little bits of the Michael Mann we know today slowly peeking its head out.

By now, anyone familiar with Mann's work should know that you're almost always gonna see a few shots of our characters around water and/or beachfront homes (sometimes during sundown or sunset). 'Thief' was his first feature to show this...

'Thief' (1981)

'Manhunter' (1986)

'Heat' (1995)

Miami Vice (2006)

In 'Thief' we also saw the birth of 2 other signature Mann shots. Not only does he love to place an actor or an object on the far right or left of the frame with the backdrop of city lights taking up the rest of the image, but he also has a fetish for intentionally out of focus, blurry streetlights...

'Thief'

'The Insider' (1999)

'Collateral' (2004)

We also saw the birth of another similar shot that Mann loves to use which is the overlooking of a city from the inside of a building (usually an office building with large windows). This wasn't exactly the case in 'Thief', but in these images below you can see how the shot slowly evolved over the years...

'Thief' - Chicago

'The Insider' - Mississippi (i think)

'Collateral' - Los Angeles 

And regardless of the shots in 'Thief' what would eventually become some of Mann's trademarks, there's plenty of other great imagery in 'Thief' that put it ahead of all the other 70's & 80's crime drama's...

The biggest Mann trademark in 'Thief' is something that doesn't need to be conveyed visually. He loves to explore the idea of making a criminal the "good guy". And if not a good guy, someone the audience will root for. James Caan in 'Thief' isn't that much different from Deniro & Val Kilmer in 'Heat', Tom Cruise in 'Collateral' or Johnny Depp as John Dillinger in 'Public Enemies' (even Gong Li in 'Miami Vice' to a certain extent). In fact, all of these characters are an extension of the characters in the french films that Mann is influenced and inspired by like 'Circle Le Rouge' (and other Melville crime dramas like 'Un Flic'), or 'Rififi' in Thief's case (2 films about anti-hero jewel thieves with tragic endings). Caan's performance is great and his character in the film is pretty interesting. When it comes to his job as a jewel thief, he's one of the best at what he does. He has everything down to a science and is quite meticulous. But outside of his work, he's very naive (almost dumb). At certain points in the film Caan is cool, calm and levelheaded, then at other times he's out of control and a hothead. He's quite believable when he delivers a line like: I am the last guy in the world you wanna fuck with. 

And in true Scorsese fashion, Mann loves the idea of showing crooked (or at the very least, imperfect) police. There isn't a single cop character in 'Thief' that's actually a "good guy". They're all crooked. With 'Thief', in addition to Caan fighting Leo and his gangsters, he also has to deal with crooked cops trying to shake him down for money. 

This film is an underrated classic. To put it in to an analogy; If other movies in the same vein like 'French Connection' or 'Dirty Harry' are Denrio in his prime, then 'Thief' is like Harvey Kietel in his prime. If you liked 'Drive' i don't see how its possible for someone to not at least appreciate 'Thief'. Drive even shows how 'Thief' was ahead of its time in terms of film score. These days, all anyone talks about is the soundtrack for 'Drive', yet 'Thief' had a very similar soundtrack 3 decades earlier, and many critics felt the music was out of place and didn't fit with the movie (over the time that opinion has changed). 

In my opinion, not only is this a great starting point for people curious about Michael Mann, but its also a great film to get someone interested in classic french crime films from the 50's, 60's and 70's.

THE CINEMA OF NICOLAS WINDING REFN TOLD THROUGH IMAGES & STILLS

Now That 'Drive' is out and Nicolas Winding Refn has blown up, lets take a look at the rest of his filmography and explore the common themes, shots and inspirations that link all his work together just like we did with Michael Haneke, Claire Denis, Lars Von Trier and many more. I must admit that I've been sitting on this one for a little while. I wasn't sure if i was ever gonna post this. Refn is the youngest director out of the list of people I've done so far. And not only that, his career as a director hasn't reached the status of Haneke, Von Trier (whom he currently has "beef with), Tarkovsky, etc. But there's something so great about his film making style. His work has grown on me over the years. I was never a huge fan of the first half of his career, but since 2004 I've been hooked.

VIOLENCE:

Nicolas Winding Refn's (recent) films may be very atmospheric, trippy and (sometimes) slow, but there's plenty of blood and violence to counter all of that. Naturally his earlier work that dealt with drug dealing and gangsters (Bleeder and The Pusher Trilogy) had plenty of bloodshed, murder and shoot outs (which should be expected in movies like that), but his more recent work like 'Valhalla Rising' and 'Drive' feature some of the most extreme scenes of violence in recent years like disembowelment & scalping (valhalla) or face smashing & neck stabbing (drive). 

Bleeder

Pusher 3

Bronson

Valhalla Rising

Drive

Only God Forgives

Only God Forgives

HALLWAY SHOTS, THE "GLARE" & STANLEY KUBRICK'S INFLUENCE:

Somewhere between 'Fear X' (2004) & 'Bronson' (2008), Refn started to draw inspiration form Stanley Kubrick's work. Most people compared Bronson to Clockwork because they felt the lead characters were very similar in that they were charismatic & funny yet unstable & violent. But the comparison to Kubrick goes way beyond 'Bronson'/'Clockwork'. In all of Refn's latest films he often incorporates a "glare" shot (where the character stares off intensely, almost zoning out for a moment) similar to the ones in Kubrick's films. Additionally, Nicolas Refn seems to have a fetish with filming long corridors and hallways just like Kubrick did in his films...

The "Glare" Bronson

Nicholson's "Glare" in The Shining

Drive

2001

Fear X

The Shining

Fear X 2001 Pusher 2 The Shining Bronson The Shining ADDITIONAL INFLUENCES 'Thief' (1981)  1. Ad for 'Drive' 'To Live & Die In LA' (1985) 2. Ad for 'Drive' the calm before the storm - 'Sonatine' the calm before the storm - 'Drive' violence erupts in elevator steve mcqueen in 'Bullit' Gosling in 'Drive' Willis w/ hammer in 'Pulp Fiction' Gosling w/ hammer in 'Drive' Scorpion Jacket from Kenneth Anger's 'Scorpio Rising' The Dirver's scorpion jacket that he wears all through out 'Drive' ATMOSPHERE & THE COLOR RED: Some of Refn's films have an indescribable mood or feel to them. A lot of this has to do with choice of lighting and his emphasis on the color red. As we all know, if used in certain way, red can convey an unsettling feeling. Sometimes he does it in a super obvious way like in 'Bronson' & 'Fear X' or a more subtle way like in 'Drive' & 'Valhalla Rising'. Refn's dark lighting mixed with that specific color has become his trademark in the last 5 years... Fear X Fear X Fear X Bronson Bronson Valhalla Rising Valhalla Rising Valhalla Rising Drive Only God Forgives The Neon Demon SYNTHESIZED SOUNDTRACKS: 'The Social Network' ain't the only film score to feature dirty sounding synths and atmospheric tones. In recent years, Refn has obviously drawn inspiration from stuff like 'Thief' and 'To Live & Die In LA', right down to the synthesized soundtracks. 'Bronson' & 'Drive' feature some very retro sounding music reminiscent of Tangerine Dream, Nine Inch Nails and Vangelis. And whats also interesting is that the music featured in his films all seem to come from the same record label ("Italians do it better"). used during the closing credits of 'Bronson' used in 'Drive' used in 'Drive' SELF-REFLECTION: Another common shot found in Refn's films (and other filmmakers') is a shot of self reflection. This is a pretty typical shot just like kissing in the rain or someone falling to their death in slow motion, but for some reason I don't seem to mind when Refn does it. Pusher 2 Drive Bleeder Only God Forgives The Neon Demon