Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn’s ultra-stylish, ultra-violent neo-noir Drive was an uncompromising piece of art house filmmaking that, despite modest box office takings, has become a real hit, making an icon of Ryan Gosling’s nameless, monosyllabic lead. In the face of that kind of breakout, most directors would then veer towards something more mainstream and accessible. Refn, however, is not most directors and his latest film Only God Forgives is distinctly not mainstream, nor particularly accessible.
Refn re-teams with Gosling, giving another stoic performance as Julian, an American in Bangkok who runs a muay thai boxing club as a front for a successful drug operation. If Julian seems a little shady, that’s nothing compared to his brother Bill (Tom Burke). Billy is the kind of guy who, when he can’t find a hooker young enough, asks the brothel owner if he has a daughter. Eventually Billy takes it a little too far and winds up on the wrong side of Chang (Vithaya Pansringarm), a police detective with a penchant for doling out his own brand of justice with his trusty samurai sword that he can seemingly produce from nowhere.
When Chang brings about Billy’s death, Julian is expected to exact revenge and his ferocious mother Crystal (Kristin Scott Thomas) comes over from the US to make sure that those involved in the death of her eldest son with not go unpunished. Crystal is one of the most frightening mothers imaginable, her chiselled face caked in fake tan and layers of makeup only cracking to utter racial slurs and various other vile comments. The film also hints at an incestuous relationship with her sons that would go a long way to explaining why each on is such a mess.
Julian is quiet and clearly racked with some kind of inner anguish, spending most of the film glowering in the corner. He appears impotent in various different ways, particularly after his domineering mother arrives. He spends his nights with a beautiful prostitute (Yayaying) but never seems to fully indulge in her services, instead choosing to watch, with his hands tied to a chair, hands with which he has a strong fixation. There’s shot after shot of Julian’s hands, whether he’s studying them, balling them into a fist or having them lopped off by Chang in a haunting recurring dream.
There’s barely any dialogue in the film but Gosling ably conveys the troubles bubbling beneath Julian’s surface, while also giving a glimpse of what he could have been if not for his toxic family.
It’s Crystal who gets the bulk of the film’s dialogue and Scott Thomas chews on every line with complete relish in an exceptional performance that’s about as far against type as it can get. Her grotesque grandstanding is the perfect counterpoint to Chang, a quietly charismatic screen presence who is chillingly methodical and meticulous in his quest for justice. Though his history isn’t clear, Pansringarm is so good we just accept who he is as soon as he arrives on screen.
It always feels like Refn would rather someone hate his film than feel any indifference and it’s certainly hard to imagine anyone sitting on the fence with this film. Where Drive felt like a fairytale, Only God Forgives is a feverish nightmare soaked in the seedy neon of Bangkok’s underbelly. The glacial pace, dream-like visuals and scenes of Lynchian peculiarity are all punctuated with outbursts of grisly violence but all of it, from the interiors of nightclubs and brothels to a blood-soaked bedroom, is impeccably designed and looks stunning.
The detractors will level accusations of style over substance, and there is often the feeling that this may well be a shallow exercise in ultra-violence and extreme genre stylings but even taken at face value, Only God Forgives is a mesmerising and atmospheric experience that won’t be easily forgotten. Refn’s nerve is as admirable as his technical proficiency and making this film was a bold move that has certainly paid off.
