Only God Forgives is, to be blunt, a piece of shit. To be honest, a certain part of me wishes I could be "hip," say how the film-festival squares did not get its genius, etc., in part because I have a great deal of respect for the people involved in front of and behind the camera, but I found it to be an empty, dull, mean-spirited, self-satisfied, and very long 90 minutes. I can praise it on two minor counts. It is a beautiful film, although this often threatens to become a flaw: the austere, neon lit, artistic with a capital A visual style is both awe-inspiring to behold and a constant self-conscious distraction, as if the film pauses again and again to whisper in the viewer's ear a reminder how gorgeous and alien each subsequent shot is. Also, though Kristin Scott Thomas' broad, blond monster mother of a role is a bit embarrassing for a respected veteran such as herself, there are moments where her delivery of the perverted, vicious dialogue, including shaming her second son by comparing the inferior size of his penis to his late elder brother's, injects a sense of flair and fun into this otherwise narcotized enterprise. Every other element represents an unprecedented failure. With perhaps twenty lines to his name, Ryan Gosling is the star, but a nonentity at the same time; in Drive, he delivered an often silent performance which still blended, with memorable results, a clear, touching sensitivity and cooler-than-ice Steve McQueen intensity. Here, there is no such indication of life below the brooding, sexy surface. The man he plays, Julian, is not a character so much as a placeholder. The actor's past magazine photo shoots no doubt required more depth and engagement, and much of this description suits the film in which he finds himself. After Bronson and Drive, in which he perfected his blend of pop-art pleasure and extreme macho violence, this seems to me such an enormous step in the wrong direction for idiosyncratic director Nicolas Winding Refn. It is a frightening moment for the career of a director considered by many to be the real deal because the elder cinematic statesmen to which he might be compared, such as David Lynch and Michael Mann or even Lars von Trier, have never come close to lapsing into debauched, idiotic self-parody the way he does here.

D

This movie takes itself WAY too seriously. It's not nearly as close to being the masterpiece that Drive was. But it does have its moments. It is incredibly stylish and gorgeous to look at, the score is great and Kristin Scott Thomas delivers a memorable supporting performance. But Gosling is kind of doing a weaker version of his performance from Drive here except the character is far less interesting and involving. It's definitely an exercise in style over substance as there isn't even really a plot so to speak, but it's worth checking out for the positive aspects, IMO. It is VERY slow-paced though, so I'd go in with that in mind. C+

It's a disappointment plain and simple, but I still didn't hate it. There are moments of great filmmaking and it's beautifully shot, but unfortunately there is just not much to it.

You have no characters to really root for or care about and there is barely any plot at all. Goslings character is a sociopathic creep who gets his ass kicked in one scene and then all of sudden wants redemption ?

It's confusing as fuck and maybe I need to watch it again to understand it better, but you can bet that won't be anytime soon.

I s'pose the main point is the retired cop is intended to be a God type figure, dealing final, unquestioning moral punishment.

F

Worst movie ever!

A bit hyperbolic , but it is definitely a grave disappointment.

A few more days removed from watching it, I believe the worst part is how devoid of character it is, except for a few biting moments with Scott Thomas' character. Drive is full of compelling personalities, both sympathetic and otherwise. Everyone here is a frozen fashion-shoot enigma.

Oedipal-necrophilia blah blah blah art.

I cannot see how anyone could like or enjoy the film. Respect it. But not like it.

Good style. No story. Violence was far less than described. Much enjoyed Cliff Martinez's work. C-.

Earlier this year I fully expected this to be, at least, in my top 5 for the year. Well it definately won't make it (maybe top 30). But after reading all the bad reviews for this, I was surprised how much I actually liked it. It's nowhere close to Drive and Magnus is right about those no dialogue scenes in the first half but it sure had it's moments. I thought time went by pretty fast and the violence was a far cry from what I expected.

I'm not sure how it will hold on a second viewing but for now this is around a B-.

Bright, pretty, pompous, and dull.



(C-)

The fact I did not like Drive means watching this movie was a mistake

Only God Forgives

Inspiring and hard-hitting. Cinematography, camerawork and the 'great unexplainable' were noticeably superior when held up against your usual fare. An incredible and powerful score (again by Cliff Martinez) to play against very slow character movements and little dialogue, which in turn filled most scenes with an important poignancy. Ryan Gosling and Vithaya Pansringarm held it together well, but plaudits go fully to Nicolas Winding-Refn, who has made another winner after his masterpiece, Drive.

Implied narrative, story and theme that is as giving as you are patient and willing to observe and connect the dots. Also written by Winding-Refn, which is probably why there is so little dialogue, but it does not matter as this is a visual treat. Kristin Scott Thomas gives a masterful performance as the hard-as-nails bitch from 'back home' only to be confronted by a Thai police lieutenant intent on ridding Bangkok of its criminal underworld by the most fearing and vicious means.

Perhaps Only God Forgives needed to be more explicit in its motives. This would have made the more mainstream viewers accept it with open arms. Characters take so ... fucking ... long ... to ... say ... any ... thing ... but it correlates with the pace of the and message of the picture. This might be the one film I've seen in such a long time where the white man is not the saviour to the indigenous, incapable race, but the antagonist when seen through fair eyes.

B+

So you wrote that



And decided to see it right afterwards?

I had it on my laptop and decided to watch it right after I made that comment.

Movie is bullshit.

It's a film that sets out to be about terrible people doing terrible things to other terrible people because they also did terrible things. And it does it in the most formally pleasing way imaginable with some impressive technical work (Martinez's score here is actually a lot better than his Drive score, which gets overrated due to the brilliant soundtrack selections) and a couple great performances - not just Scott Thomas, but also the Thai guy that played the cop. I saw this in a French multiplex with a French friend because it was one of the only English-language films I had an interest in seeing, not realizing that a lot of it was in Thai. But despite never actually knowing almost anything that the Thai cop said, he left quite the impression. Great character and performance.

That said, it's a story I had absolutely no interest in watching and a story I have absolutely no wish to ever revisit again. So, A for presentation and D- for personal interest, averaging out to C+/C.

Which doesn't have to be so deadly dull. The Friends of Eddie Coyle, for example, is a very entertaining film on the subject.

it's growing on me too.

What did you think of the scene with Gosling putting his hands inside his dead mother's body?

I'm fairly sure I'm gonna love this.

moi aussi

It was tastefully shot, so it was fine. I can't think of a reason why he'd do that, but he was "different" as she kept saying, and he's obviously an inquisitive soul, so...hand inside uterus!

Can it still be considered Oedipal symbolism when the main character puts his hand inside his mother's corpse?

Ugh. Nice to look at, but that's about it. One of the year's worst despite a strong score/cinematography.

No wonder it didn't get a wide release. Audiences would have despised it.

3/10 (D)

ONLY GOD FORGIVES

Finally got to rent this. Thank heavens I didn't purchase it. There just seemed to be very little dialogue to latch onto in this film. It felt like a lot of style with a dash of story. I was surprised by the gore, but also that they stopped from showing a bit more at times as well. I did enjoy some scenes such as the attempted assassination and the fight between Gosling and the chief of police. There was some music in the film that was interesting too, so maybe the soundtrack is decent or I'll just get a track or two. Overall, this just didn't do much for me.

Grade - C