Only God Forgives hits theaters July 19th.
Only God Forgives is a fantastic film which I’m willing to say that I loved while simultaneously noting that it is a film I will not want to see repeatedly. Sure, I may take it in once or twice more to soak up the full impact and intention that Nicolas Winding Refn laced into it, but viewing Only God Forgives filled me with tension and dread on a level that I won’t want to dwell in for long.
That building sense of tense dread is crafted by a masterful use of camera, art direction, performance, and most notably through composer Cliff Martinez’ brilliant score. About a third of the way through the film I really recognized my swelling sense of dread and made the decision that this was Nicolas Winding Refn’s horror film. Upon the conclusion of the film I felt very secure that, regardless of whether it was the filmmaking team’s intention or not… Only God Forgives is some kind of art house horror meditation that I’ve never really seen the likes of before.
I also felt very strongly that the film is, more or less, a Thai film in more than just its setting. The crew and cast is comprised almost entirely of Thais aside from the handful of lead actors and a core group of Refn’s team. I think this is a very good thing. The world of the film brims with authenticity and the film industry in Thailand has proven time and again that they have the skills to generate internationally acclaimed films. Most impressive of all the Thai contributors to the film is Vithaya Pansringarm, who plays Chang, the lead character of this film. (Don’t let the advertising convince you that this is entirely a Ryan Gosling film.) Chang, I’ve come to understand after much reflection on the film, is the titular “god” of the story. He plays a hardened Bangkok homicide detective if you view the film from some kind of literal, set-in-the-real-world perspective. But from a more conceptual or spiritual reading of the film, Chang is a mythical and vengeful god who really appreciates a good night of karaoke. The character is shot with reverence and awe and Pansringarm (who has a genuine nice-guy face) becomes more frightening than Freddy Krueger on his best day. (And his sword becomes just as iconic as “the Freddy glove” if you want to keep comparing notes.)
But if this isn’t a Ryan Gosling film, then what is he doing in this movie? Well, Gosling’s involvement in this film, and his willingness to accept the role of Julian, is another reason I have a profound respect for the final film and for Gosling as an actor. Julian is essentially a broken and worthless individual who appears to careen through this entire film without ever doing a single thing right. All of the “cool” of his Driver character from his previous collaboration with Refn is gone from Only God Forgives. Sure, Julian looks great in a suit or a deep-V-neck t-shirt. But any veneer of togetherness or wholeness that Julian puts on is a façade, and Gosling’s got guts to play such a pitiful and wandering soul.
Julian’s older brother, a sadistic and murderous drug dealer named Billy (Tom Burke), sets off the main plot of Only God Forgives when he goes on a horrific bender and murders a young prostitute. Chang gets involved in the murder investigation and Julian and Billy’s mother Crystal (Kristin Scott Thomas in a wholly mesmerizing performance) comes to claim Billy’s body when Chang has finished with his “investigation.” The town of Bangkok simply isn’t big enough for Chang, Crystal, and Julian. And things will get pretty messy as Chang’s vengeful dark angel of a character clashes with Crystal, a drug maven and matriarch. Julian simply flounders through the film, psychologically broken by growing up in the shadow of his older brother whom his whirlwind of a mother clearly loved the most.
And all that is just what is going on in the realm of the real. But Refn has crafted a film that depicts a grimy, brutal and broken reality but also elevates that reality into something more ethereal and spiritual. Much like Drive before it, there are long stretches of silence, or total lack of dialog, here in Only God Forgives. Refn and Martinez fill their canvas with slow moving images of our characters simply walking or brooding or dreaming while brilliant and off-putting music fills our ears. In Drive, this effect was used stylistically to create one of the slickest and most confidently simple crime films I’ve seen in ages. But here Refn’s style both builds anticipation in the viewer and distances the film from reality. I often couldn’t tell if certain scenes were actually happening or only in a character’s head. And sometimes there were sequences played as surreal which very clearly WERE really happening. And so I find myself greatly impressed at how Refn managed to build a very real and broken landscape and at the same time inject a dream-like and ethereal quality to this tale of judgment and wickedness.
I caught Only God Forgives at a special advanced screening here in Austin at the Alamo Drafthouse. We were told that the screening actually marked the North American premiere of the film, and Director Nicolas Winding Refn and Composer Cliff Martinez were in attendance for a question and answer session after the film. It was one of the most impressive and insightful Q&A’s I ever recall attending. Refn has a remarkable control and confidence. He comes off as a master artist without even the slightest hint of pretension or ego. (Although any artist this singular has to have maybe a little bit of both… the key is in his ability to not exude either.) It was actually Refn who indicated in the Q&A that the film could and should be read from a spiritual perspective and that, in his estimation, the character of Chang views himself as a god. Although the film mildly traumatized me, I do look forward to at least a second viewing in order to try to better take in the more spiritual read on the film that Refn himself suggests is there, even if I saw it as more of a broken-world tale as I was taking it in in the theater.
The other incredible note that I must share from the Q&A before wrapping this review up is that Refn said, from his own mouth, that he plans to collaborate with composer Cliff Martinez on all his future projects. I couldn’t be happier about this as I don’t know if there has been a better pairing of director and composer since Spielberg and Williams. Sure, these two have only done Drive and Only God Forgives together thus far so the Spielberg/Williams comment might sound over-dramatized. But after much reflection I’ve realized that none of Refn’s films up until Drive had entirely clicked for me (although I’ve not seen the Pusher Trilogy yet or some of his even earlier European films) and I genuinely believe that Martinez and Refn gel so deeply that Martinez’s music fills in a missing piece of Refn’s filmmaking voice and together they elevate what is onscreen to artful and atmospheric new heights.
Only God Forgives will legitimately traumatize anyone who walks into the theater just to see the latest Ryan Gosling flick. Hell, it might even traumatize fans of Drive who are looking for a similarly mainstream-if-stylish crime drama. As a matter of fact, I’d have to question the sanity of any person who is able to walk out of Only God Forgives without even the slightest sense of being traumatized. But the key here is that Only God Forgives is an effecting film, and I know I can’t stop thinking about it. In an era where so much of our film intake is immediately forgettable and aimed squarely at all four quadrants, Nicolas Winding Refn is creating whatever he wants to and leaving us feeling bludgeoned and thoughtful in all the best ways.