Only God Forgives
A lot of people are going to go to see this movie expecting Ryan Gosling to be the star, the hero. And the hero always wins, right? Well, that's not this movie. Only God Forgives is a brutal morality play. It is an uncompromising art film by a director who obviously doesn't give a hoot about its commercial success.
I've read several negative reviews about this film. One guy said it only has about eight words of dialog. That's crap. There is dialog all through the film, though most of it is subtitled. And not once does a character say, "I've got this." or, "I haven't seen that before." Another person said it was a montage of unrelated scenes. Bull. Many of the scenes are juxtaposed but there are no "unrelated" edits in this film. Anyone with even an average intellect should be able to follow it. Really, it's not that cryptic. Another review I read said it was too violent and gross. Well, apparently they have not seen Pusher III: I Am the Angel of Death. This is a Nic Refn film, not a Saturday morning matinee popcorn film. This is not Iron Man III.
Only God Forgives gives up nothing. It is a pure work of artistic vision that conveys a very strong message. The key to the film is given in one of the very first lines of dialog, "...time to meet the Devil." In essence, that is what the film is about: punishment of the wicked.
I give it seven stars out of seven. Not because it is the best film ever, but because the technical filmcraft is perfect and the vision of the director is without compromise. That is film at its best.
A lot of people are going to go to see this movie expecting Ryan Gosling to be the star, the hero. And the hero always wins, right? Well, that's not this movie. Only God Forgives is a brutal morality play. It is an uncompromising art film by a director who obviously doesn't give a hoot about its commercial success.
I've read several negative reviews about this film. One guy said it only has about eight words of dialog. That's crap. There is dialog all through the film, though most of it is subtitled. And not once does a character say, "I've got this." or, "I haven't seen that before." Another person said it was a montage of unrelated scenes. Bull. Many of the scenes are juxtaposed but there are no "unrelated" edits in this film. Anyone with even an average intellect should be able to follow it. Really, it's not that cryptic. Another review I read said it was too violent and gross. Well, apparently they have not seen Pusher III: I Am the Angel of Death. This is a Nic Refn film, not a Saturday morning matinee popcorn film. This is not Iron Man III.
Only God Forgives gives up nothing. It is a pure work of artistic vision that conveys a very strong message. The key to the film is given in one of the very first lines of dialog, "...time to meet the Devil." In essence, that is what the film is about: punishment of the wicked.
I give it seven stars out of seven. Not because it is the best film ever, but because the technical filmcraft is perfect and the vision of the director is without compromise. That is film at its best.
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Have you ever held a lion in your arms? I have. He smelled funky.
Have you ever held a lion in your arms? I have. He smelled funky.