Only God Forgives
Release date: July 19 Oscar prospects: So-so The sleekest, chicest, hippest, fedora-wearing-Williamsburg-resident approved film of 2011 was undoubtedly Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive. The film, which starred Ryan Gosling as a stuntman/getaway-driver in the "strong but silent" prototype, premiered at 2011's Cannes Film Festival to much fanfare. The reaction among critics and cineastes was almost universally ecstatic, winning Refn the festival's Best Director award, and when the film reached wide release, the slobbering of the film from the hardcore online film community was deafening. If you were a critic who happened not to like the film, or even if you just gave Drive just a tepidly positive review, you were burdened with the hate of many film fanatic, as if you had declared Waterworld the best film in the history of cinema. You can probably guess then that the anticipation for the Refn/Gosling follow up, Only God Forgives, reached a fever pitch, and when the film was announced to be part of 2013's Cannes lineup, I don't have to tell you which film many were most eager to hear about. Then the film actually premiered and the air was sucked out of the room like an artificial vacuum. Reportedly met with a smattering of boos as the credits rolled, the film didn't live quite the charmed life on the Croisette as its spiritual predecessor did two years earlier. Only God Forgives, which stars Gosling as an ex-boxer and current criminal in Bangkok, apparently takes the fetishism prevalent in the "style over substance" approach in Drive to its logical extremes. Sparse on dialogue and heavy on quick and relentless scenes of violence, the film was divisive among critics to say the least, but more importantly in terms of the film's awards potential, it doesn't sound like the Academy's forte. The one shot the film does have at some Oscar glory comes from the purportedly go-for-broke, over-the-top performance from Kristen Scott Thomas as the wicked gangster queen, and malicious mother to Gosling's protagonist, of Bangkok's underground world. Even the film's fiercest detractors had nothing but effusive praise for Thomas' performance, and in a category that commonly struggles to come up with five deserving nominees, this is no small thing. As Albert Brooks found out though, even a supporting performance loved by nearly all in a Refn film is no safe bet when it comes to securing a nomination from the Academy. Possible nominations: Best Supporting Actress (Kristen Scott Thomas)