Only God Forgives (2013)
Only God Forgives feels a lot more close to Refns’s previous work than Drive did. I understand the expectations here were that this was going to be Drive 2.0 since Gosling came along for the ride again, but his films have always been these weird little experiments. This film is no different and gets back to what he loves doing. I wish I could’ve said that wasn’t necessary a bad thing, but Only God Forgives falls flat on its face in the worst way possible.
This film follows Julian (Ryan Gosling), a drug dealer, who seeks out revenge after his brother is murdered. That’s as simple as I can describe it based on what I saw. I wish I would have seen more but the film decides to take this plot and put it together through a combination of experimental shots that ultimately feel empty. Many scenes go several minutes without dialogue and very little movement, but you are supposed to gain something from it simply based on the setup of the shot. That can be effective when you do it a few times, but to do it for ninety minutes straight is just frustrating. I have no idea what’s going on inside the minds of these characters because they don’t speak nor do anything. I usually love the silent protagonist that does a lot with less, but you cannot make every character in your film that way and expect the audience to continue watching. Throw in some confusing edits of hallucinations and long karaoke scenes and you got yourself a real stinker.
Concerning the violence real quick; beforehand and even after its release, everyone has mentioned this film as a mere excuse to show brutal violence and I couldn’t disagree more. The violence mainly consists of cutaway shots right before the blood starts spraying or an overlook well after the act has occurred. I have seen far worse and I don’t understand where this conception comes from with this film.
Getting back on track, the films visual and edits are presented in a way that sets it up as one big metaphor, but I don’t buy it and even so, it’s poorly done. These long slow pointless shots have to stand for something right? Everyone has their own interpretation, but mine revolves around Julian seeking forgiveness for his sins from God himself (Vithaya Pansringarm). It’s a very out-there theory that relies on very little dialogue that could very well by lies from this characters mouth. Even so, I think the film does a piss poor job in presenting this, and I might get heat for saying it requires too much thinking, but you shouldn’t need to research and write an essay to possibly understand the film without making an entertaining film first. I still feel like I’m clueless to some extent on this, but due to the repetitive nature of the film, I don’t feel the need to look any further than I’ve gone.
Ryan Gosling as Julian is a complete misfire. The brooding silent character just doesn’t feel like it has any weight to it this time around. He gives no indication to what’s going on in his head, leaving the audience feeling clueless. It’s very disappointing. Kristen Scott Thomas as his mother Crystal gets the bulk of the films dialogue, but her nasty, selfish, bitchy attitude never quite clicks because there is nothing to bounce off of. Her remarks are never met with response to make them as impactful as they would have liked. The films true lead, Vithaya Pansringarm, plays Chang, the cop partly responsible for the brothers’ murder. He is a one note character that feels slowly spoken dialogue and body movement creates tension, but he feels stuck in slow motion. He’s borderline unwatchable, along with the rest of the film. These actors never stood a chance, but what they tried to deliver fucking sucked.
I wanted to love this film, but after the initial buzz, I just wanted not to hate it. That didn’t happen. I think this film invokes an interesting discussion, but not at the cost of having to watch it. It’s just too sloppy to earn that kind of time from its viewers. I hope this film disappears quickly, never to be heard of again. It’ll be for the better.
Overall Score: 2/10
