Only God Forgives

Je ne suis pas du tout surpris par les 49 % et c'est peut-être même beaucoup, vu que le spectacle offert par Only God Forgives est une expérience filmique très singulière à mi-chemin entre le cru et le cruel, respectivement, des Danois et des Asiatiques. J’ai d’ailleurs presque envie de m’exclamer « WTF! », le fameux mot américain à la mode. Franchement, je ne comprends pas du tout ce que Refn a voulu communiquer ici. L’histoire est claire comme de l’eau de roche, mais les cuts, intermèdes et pseudocontrastes artistiques incessants enfoncent l'œuvre plus qu’ils ne l’élèvent. Il faut croire que les fonds abondants des Danois les autorisent à se permettre ce genre de petits écarts hybrides répugnants et pervers. (06/09/2015)

Si ce n’était pour le succès de Drive, Ryan Gosling et Kristin Scott Thomas n’auraient pas joué dans Only God Forgives, un film tellement peu regardable que je doute de sa distribution massive aux USA. Une famille américaine pas tout à fait modèle qui fait son business à Bangkok énerve le chef de la police du coin, un maniaque de la machette. On apprend progressivement qui est lié à qui, tandis que le nombre de victimes s’accroît sans cesse. Ce sont tous des tarés qui soit violent des gosses de quatorze ans, soit dealent de la drogue, soit arrachent des yeux. Obscurité omniprésente, lanternes et néons stratégiquement placés dans l’image, symboles de dragon dans une lumière rouge tamisée, personnages aux mouvements lents, musique tantôt sombre, tantôt psychédélique… et un Ryan Gosling au regard perdu comme jamais auparavant. Le film joue sur les attentes du public, trompe, hypnotise, effraie, fascine par moments, mais sans procurer de satisfaction finale. Le flic sous les traits de Vithaya Pansringarm est un sadique proprement démoniaque et la mère jouée par Kristin Scott Thomas est une vraie salope sans scrupules. Un film zarbi qui vous fait réfléchir, mais n’amène à aucune conclusion. (30/05/2013)

A pseudo-art game with symbols, vague characters, and a story about revenge and (lack of) forgiveness, in which fantastic cinematography and the unintentional ridiculousness of Gosling's vacant stare reign supreme. Overall, it’s enough for the biggest movie pose and epic fail of the year because I haven't seen a movie in a long time that shows so much of what it wants to be and works exactly the opposite way; I want to read a long analysis of it by a film theorist. (21/09/2013)

OK, when it’s Refn, I absolutely don't mind and have never minded superficiality. Not even being a poser. I always felt something more behind it - vibration, a unique vision, the ability to captivate through image. Only God Forgives is the first time that ostentatious self-affection and the importance attached to every (albeit non-plot) shot has severely bothered me. The entire film is actually the anti-thesis of Drive, an image of a passive, incompetent, insufficient, castrated protagonist, on whose side are neither justice nor sympathy. Unfortunately, Gosling's pleading gaze into the camera seems sometimes tragicomic, similar to the didactic repetition of castration motifs and the emphasis on the archetypality of the plot (sometimes horribly didactic). The plot element is as truncated and frustrating as the protagonist - it's certainly not a fail - it's an intention, a rather mischievous creative intention, which Refn ostentatiously presents to us. Disconnection, inconsistency, extraordinariness - what made sense to me in Valhalla Rising as a lyrical poem resonates in Only God Forgives as an empty and pompous mannerism, gratification of the armless, sometimes even rebellious and strenuously aggressive. Mechanical declamations, the absence of logic, a bizarrely interconnected world in which the only possible order rules - the order of the director's ego. For me, a completely empty pose, empty enough to frustrate me. A few scenes are, of course, masterful (the fight, the chase through the city, ending with a recipe for a funny wok pan), but the enchantment of the whole faded. Nicolas Winding Refn reduced to excess. (30/05/2013)

Nicolas Winding Refn and Ryan Gosling were apparently surprised by how successful Drive was with the general public. That’s what gave them the courage to work with even heavier themes than Drive had. They say that there is power in simplicity, and this is exactly what Drive was. A dynamic camera, an oppressive atmosphere supported by great music and, in essence, a very simple premise. Only God Forgives has all these elements, but it is still quite brutal, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Asian movies with mafia characters in the lead are simply like that. But to top it all off, they talk even less and everything takes a really long time, which was perhaps the biggest issue the movie had. It would have been dynamic otherwise. Some of the intentionally long and meaningless shots have a message for a split second, but all the atmosphere disappears within a single moment because nothing really happens in the movie. The electronic music is also sparse, and all that initial enthusiasm quickly fades away in less than half an hour. One then looks at Ryan, who thinks that his charisma will do all the work, but he apparently does not understand that if he doesn’t speak, the viewer can’t form an opinion about him. Even so, I respect the creators’ efforts. The movie’s completely different from a classic film production and deserves great respect. Drive was the work and success of the moment. But Only God Forgives is its indistinct shadow. (01/11/2013)