Coming off of his success with Drive (2011), Nicolas Winding Refn was almost universally acclaimed as one of the best directors to watch out for. He had successfully blended the indie art house style of filmmaking with a somewhat action-y concept, and created a movie that appealed to a wide range of moviegoers-- even Ryan Gosling fangirls. He had begun his transition from obscure little hipster flicks into mainstream cinema, and was picking up a lot of fans. So, the obvious question we now must ask is... WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED? Refn followed up Drive with Only God Forgives, one of the most deliberately confusing and pretentious movies of all time. But what’s interesting about OGF is that, unlike other Refn films which are equally pretentious and brutal, it is not critically acclaimed. So maybe everyone stopped eating up the shit Refn was shoveling at them long enough to realize that this movie is fucking awful.
Only God Forgives is about Julian (Ryan Gosling), a professional boxer and a respected member of the Bangkok criminal underworld whose favorite pastime is staring off into space. Seriously, a good 85% of this film is just Gosling staring blankly at the camera. He’s an okay actor (supposedly), but here he’s just awful. I don’t know if Refn told him to show literally no emotion, or if it was a choice he made himself that was supposed to be ‘deep’, but it seriously distracts from the story. Or at least it would, if there was a story. On paper, yes-- this movie has a plot. Julian’s brother is killed, and his control freak of a mother makes him avenge his death. But if you watch the film without any prior knowledge of what to expect, GOOD HOLY FUCK, will you be confused. There are a maximum of eight scenes in this movie that are actually vital to the plot; the rest of it is just Gosling doing what he does best: Staring, pondering, staring again, getting beaten up, and staring.
It’s pretty obvious that these long-winded stares and exhaustingly monotonous art shots are just space fillers, as the movie’s actual story should take only about twenty minutes to tell. But for some unknown reason, Refn decided to cram the movie full of blank looks and WTF scenes. And when I say WTF, I mean WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK IS GOING ON. Within the first five minutes, Gosling has given us the infamous line “I want to fuck a 14-year-old.” What’s even worse is that it doesn’t stop there: Gosling’s mother talks to his date about his and his brother’s relative penis sizes. There’s a lot of hinting at incest in that family as well. And when his mother is killed, Gosling sticks his hand in her open belly wound. Oh, and I neglected to mention that at one point, a girl ties his hands to a chair and has him watch as she fingers herself. If this doesn’t elicit a visceral “JESUS CHRIST WHAT DID I JUST READ” reaction from you, I don’t know what will.
But here’s the thing: Only God Forgives isn’t trying to be some kind of a gross-out movie. It’s legitimately trying to be psychological, deep, and intelligent, three things it fails at massively. Apparently, the film is about redemption (an Asian cop plays the role of God, hence the title) and Gosling’s guilt over killing his father. At the end, God cuts off Gosling’s hands to symbolize his cleansing of sins, thereby forgiving him. None of this could possibly be gleaned from watching the movie, as it doesn’t even try to tell us that the guy is a stand-in for God, let alone the story of redemption. Even the deed Gosling is supposed to be redeemed for is mentioned for about ten seconds, then never brought up again. There’s also a buttload of obvious foreshadowing throughout the whole thing, with dozens of repeated shots of Gosling’s hands, some of them lasting a full 30 seconds. The damage your brain suffers while watching it is monumental.
There really aren’t any relatable characters in this film either. Gosling is an interesting character, but seeing as he only has about six sentences of dialogue (most of which are “TAKE IT OFF”), the audience doesn’t really know much or care much about him. His mother is a sadistic fucking bitch, which was probably supposed to symbolize something... I guess. Even Refn probably doesn’t know what he was trying to say with this thing. And then there’s God, who talks about as much as Gosling, but most of it is karaoke. Oh yes, I forgot-- there are three scenes where God sings karaoke, each more intolerable than the last. I’d rather watch the Rick Astley Rick Roll video than this guy’s singing.
The only saving grace of this film is the soundtrack and visuals, which are both spectacular. The neon lights that blanket every character in every scene are trippy and fun, and the music stays with you well after the movie is over. If only these small positives had been given a script or plot to work with. But no, instead we’re stuck looking at a purple wash of Ryan Gosling’s dumb face for 90 minutes, then some random shots of a dead hooker’s body beautifully bathed in blue light. Of course, this visual grandeur is almost always undercut by some retarded line like “Wanna fight?” But I think Refn definitely had some good ideas back when this movie was in the abstract concept stage of creation. It’s a shame that he got too egotistical and self-absorbed to realize that this film is an enormous anus.
Final Score for Only God Forgives? 2/10 stars. Although you will undoubtedly feast your eyes and ears on the beautiful visuals and absorbing soundtrack, this is still one of the worst movies of the year. It features hopelessly wooden acting, a plot that goes absolutely nowhere, and an assortment of needlessly disgusting scenes that really detract from the movie as a whole. It’s a shame, really, as I was looking forward to this movie. I wasn’t a fan of Drive, but this definitely had potential. Maybe it’s because the trailer had every line of dialogue in the whole movie crammed into it, making it look legitimately good, but it certainly had the capacity to be more than a boring and pretentious mess. At the end of the day, only God forgives Refn.
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