4. Negative Reception Blunders
Reviews, critics and critique are things that most of us take too seriously. It's easy to just read a review, adhere to it, and ignore a film because it's had mostly negative press. The main criticism of Only God Forgives, seems to be that of its unabridged violence as opposed to anything else. I'm not quite sure we understand why violence is still a thing that devalues a film? We should probably be used to it now, with the horror genre slowly running out of ideas, churning out gore-porn like the Saw franchise. Violence is an expression like anything else, and the unabashed brutality of it, is what made the film so unpredictable and gripping entwined with its dream sequences. I feel like the sour reception was in part because critics were expecting a film similar to Drive, after seeing Gosling and Refn were collaborating once again. The films initial premiere at Cannes was met to a wide array of boos, and standing ovations. In microcosm, that captures the mixed nature of Only God Forgives. If you can get past its experimental, and reality-bending form you'll be able to appreciate it as a fantastic piece of alternative cinema, and the bad press and negative reviews from critics certainly shouldn't stop you.