20 Times Directors You Trust Totally Let You Down
12. Nicolas Winding Refn - Only God Forgives
The Director:
A unique Danish auteur, who loves electronic music, gory violence, stunning visuals and endless shots of people staring into the distance.
The Film:
Only God Forgives is the Drive formula all over again. Ryan Gosling stares into the distance, commits gruesome violence and slow, stunning imagery tell a story. Trouble is, this time there is no story and there's nothing beneath the surface at all. In contrast to his nuanced, layered performance in Drive, Ryan Gosling is pretty rubbish in this.
Pretentious, meaningless and frequently tedious, Only God Forgives is everything Drive wasn't. Some people love Only God Forgives, and they are to be envied. After all, they were actually able to get some sort of meaning from this, which most of us were unable to do.
Refn struck gold with the visuals, but failed to put all the pieces together in a satisfying way. As shown in the documentary My Life Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, it seems he wasn't sure about the film either.
Has He Bounced Back?
Yes. The Neon Demon is a terrific movie, although it seems to have divided many. He's got a film called The Avenging Silence in development.