Only God Forgives

It would be an understatement to say that I had been looking forward to the release of Only God Forgives from Danish-born film director and writer Nicolas Winding Refn, teaming up once more with Ryan Gosling. Their 2011 collaboration, Drive, I rated as the best film seen that year.

Drive was a crime thriller that took standard clichés from that genre and twisted them cleverly with a subtle nuance to produce a film that was fresh and invigorating.

 Only God Forgives is a crime thriller that has taken standard clichés from that genre and twisted them to produce a film that is cliché ridden, spiteful and with nothing new to say.

The film centres around an American drug smuggling family whose operation is run by two brothers, Billy (Tom Burke) and the younger Julian (Ryan Gosling) fronting as owners of a Thai boxing club in Bangkok. The depraved and apparently psychotic Billy is brutally murdered – an honour killing after he himself abused and brutally murdered a 16 year old prostitute. This provokes the family matriarch, the widowed Crystal Thompson (Kristin Scott Thomas) to fly in from The States to ensure revenge is enacted. She is pitted against Lt Chang, a police officer complicit in Billy’s death.

The film was a strange mix of ultra violent set pieces, interspersed with surreal dream-like episodes and two very odd scenes where Lt Chang, a clinically efficient killer, sings karaoke – the point of these scenes escaped me.

There was little dialogue in this movie which at only 90 minutes long had far too many ponderous scenes with long silences punctuated by taciturn and non-convincing conversation. The one exception to this was when Kristin Scott Thomas in an excoriating attack on her younger son totally emasculates him in front of his girlfriend, comparing him unfavourably to her beloved late elder son – the suggestion of incest was perhaps mooted. Other scenes hinted at Gosling’s character having a complicated and troubled sexuality.

Kristin Scott Thomas gave a fine performance. Her Lady Macbeth style portrayal of burning, barely controlled anger and hatred seeking the bloodiest revenge was intense. Ryan Gosling was on auto-pilot, yet again playing a silent type conveying emotion with an enigmatic half smile or arched eyebrow. A similar portrayal by him of his character in Drive was beguiling; a repeat performance in The Place Beyond the Pines he got away with. Not only is it now beginning to wear a bit thin, it was a distinct barrier in this movie to understanding where he stood in the piece, what were his motivations.

Stylistically, the film had great merit – the cinematography and lighting were both of the highest order – Refn knows how to frame a scene and his skill as a film-maker is beyond dispute. The sound effects during the many episodes of violence were always rather clumsy, however – I suspect Refn concentrates on the visuals.

Only God Forgives is a film that has split opinion, receiving boos and standing ovations at screenings   – often simultaneously. Sometimes a talented film-maker can create something too far ahead of its time. What seems specious and nasty to many on release can in later years be re-evaluated, its qualities finally understood. I think in particular of Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom. In 1960, its sexual violence and perceived voyeurism was unappreciated by critics and audiences alike. Such was the opprobrium, it all but ended the career of Powell who had, along with Emeric Pressburger, created so many timelessly enduring British films. But now, Peeping Tom has been rehabilitated and regarded by most as an all-time classic. Whether Refn’s Only God Forgives will ultimately fall into this category, only time will tell. And I will stand to be corrected.

**

Tim Meade