Nicolas Winding Refn's Only God Forgives

[Dispatch Ninja]

Another new poster:

Spoiler

The colors in this movie are insane. I'm loving it.

 

[StarLord]

Behind the scenes video:

[YT]bNkMWvXtI90[/YT]

 

[Dispatch Ninja]

Twc radius is doing a daily contest on fb and twitter giving away free ogf posters. They post a question at a random time and if you're one of the first 5 to answer correctly you get a free poster.

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

I finally get to use my Twitter account for something.

 

[Tim_Riggins]

Seeing this on next Wednesday, super psyched !

 

[StarLord]

August release date for the UK.

Hurry up!

 

[Project862006]

soundtrack samples
http://www.amazon.fr/gp/recsradio/radio/B00CJIBC1W/ref=pd_krex_dp_a

sounds freaking amazing

 

[The Englishman]

Another new poster:

Spoiler

The colors in this movie are insane. I'm loving it.

Winding Refn likes his pink...

 

[Dispatch Ninja]

soundtrack samples
http://www.amazon.fr/gp/recsradio/radio/B00CJIBC1W/ref=pd_krex_dp_a

sounds freaking amazing

Ost leaked.

 

[747]

Winding Refn likes his pink...

And loves his red.

 

[Project862006]

Ost leaked.

t:just downloaded it's epic

 

[StarLord]

It's not leaked, it was released in France on Monday.

 

[StarLord]

The showing in Cannes was at 08:30 this morning, such a crazy time.

Early reviews seem to be mixed according to Twitter.


And on an unrelated note...they screened Jaws at the friggin beach! How cool is that?!

 

[Tequilla]

Read some reviews comparing it with Valhalla Rising and Fear X. Awesome !

Listened a little bit of the ost...sounds like another stellar work by mr Cliff Martinez.

 

[jacobed]

I've seen about 5 or 6 reviews just tearing this movie apart, there were definitely more that hated it but I didn't read them. Saying the reviews are mixed is putting it lightly

 

[weezerspider]

Yeah A TON of people are ****ting all over this. This worries me. These are the types of films I genuinely end up agreeing with critics on.

 

[jacobed]

It's not just oh this wasn't great reviews. It's man this was god awful type of reviews.

 

[Dispatch Ninja]

Even kristen scott thomas was ragging on it lol. Im still excited though.

 

[Tim_Riggins]

My review from Nolanfans:

This is Refn in Valhalla Rising mode, 95 % I'd say. It is purely abstract, all style with many many silent moments, characters looking at each other I think (I'm still digesting it, got out 5 min ago) that I really like it (note the like, not love ), it is so bizarre, special, surreal. As said, it feels ethereal and dream-like, I'm still figuring out all the symbolic aspects, because there has to be a lot of those.

The score by Martinez is really good, but Drive's is better for me, and thankfully there are quite a few tracks reminiscent of Drive. The acting is fine, no standouts, I'll explain this by saying that Refn seems more interested in the visual aspect, the pure form, the surface than on the rest, he doesn't seem interested in the human element, the emotion, that's.what is lacking for me here and his movies in general.

Here, the actors don't have much to do, Gosling's Julian being a dude of few words is frustrating, it works in Drive, but not quite here, he's left gazing into infinity as an observer, he has some 20 lines overall.

Gosling doesn't have enough to do, and we don't know a lot about his character who's not as interesting as the driver in Drive by far, IMO. The actor playing Chang is good, but the characters are just statues, shells, only there to serve the form if that makes any sense. Scott Thomas is pretty good as this horrible mother, but I'm not seeing any awards potential here, its pretty one note.

Now, the Main pt of interest: the visuals. It is a work of art in this respect, it looks impossibly gorgeous, each shot is really thought out, framing is impeccable, and it helps that Refn has a taste for stillness more than once. I like Drive's visuals better though, more my style. It is incredibly violent, but it gets to the point of being too much, and unlike Drive where it served a clear purpose IMO, I just don't see it at the moment, but I have to think about it some more. I heard quite a few people whispering during the movie because I think that many were dumbfounded at what the movie really is like.

Story is very simple, its the form that matters, the atmosphere (which is pretty great), the mood. There are a couple of Driveish moments, that I liked even more because they stood out. But I'm a tad frustrated by Refn's approach, no dialogues
or barely is cool, but too much reliance on the form here.

About the fight scene teased in the trailer, it is awesome, really. Overall, I like it I think, but I wish Refn could be more "conventional", Drive style for example, to be honest, I've seen from him Valhalla Rising, Drive, and now OGF, and the Refn I really like is the one from Drive. For example, I'd have liked to see him do the remake of The Equalizer to see him on something a bit more mainstream.

Now okay, that's what makes him so special, but he is going to alienate a lot of people if he keeps making movies like this.

About the question of length, Valhalla does feel super long, this does not, it's very slow, but no as slow as Valhalla Rising.

 

[Tim_Riggins]

By the way, a LOT of people will hate this, the clips dont convey the tone of the movie at all, nor does the trailer, the actual movie is nothing like that.

 

[StarLord]

I've seen about 5 or 6 reviews just tearing this movie apart, there were definitely more that hated it but I didn't read them. Saying the reviews are mixed is putting it lightly

It was 6 or so hours ago I posted so obviously there are more reviews out now.

 

[SlamAdams]

I'm not surprised there is bad reviews. After Drive I feel like it was inevitable. Drive was the kind of movie where a lot of critics were like "not a bad movie" thinking it would end up being a hidden gem and then a bunch of non-critics went ape-#### over it (me included) and the "professional" opinion seemed to turn a little toward "settle down, its not that good."

 

[Tequilla]

Reading some reviews and the comment made by the user Tim_Riggins , basically its a....Refn movie. How is that surprising ? The man has made more than 10 movies. He has a very distinctive style. Those reviews (negative ones and positive ones) only give me great confidence regarding the picture. It's the director doing what he does best.

 

[Drz]

All the bad reviews so far i have seen are just people crying it's not another Drive movie, which just shows people have likely seen only 1 Refn movie.

 

[Tim_Riggins]

Well yeah, it's a Refn movie, problem is, he will have to be more mainstream or "conventional" at some point, because his violence shtick (that's really too much in Only God Forgives) is going to get old pretty fast, and he's going to alienate a big part of the audience.

Like I said, I like the Refn from Drive much better, he's definitely more conventional in his approach on it, but I love how poetic Drive feels, Only God Forgives is not poetic at all, it's more nightmarish and over-indulgent in the gore department, and too much style over substance.

You can say it gives you great confidence, but don't latch on to that too much, you might end up disappointed, I went in super hyped, I'll be honest, I was hoping for it to have some shades of Drive (there are 2 or 3 moments that are Drive-ish in the movie), but it's much closer to Valhalla Rising.

Ultimately, it's a beautiful work of art, but it's incredibly hollow, emotionless, there is only ONE moment with a semblance of feelings, emotions, but it's squashed right away.