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Offbeat drama with aspects of horror that crosses something of a Lynchian tale with the aesthetic of Argento.
It's easy to see why this film has proved rather polarising. On the one hand it's often visually quite stunning, on the other it's easy to feel the tale just meanders slowly along with no major depth to it. Sure it presents the fashion industry as intrinsically shallow and one that makes those involved in it become self-absorbed and narcissistic beings (who would sell their own mother if they thought it would gain them an advantage in their dog-eat-dog world) but those are hardly groundbreaking perspectives.
That's not to say it doesn't touch on anything of interest - the yearning for eternal youth is central to the narrative and a theme that has oft been explored cinematically and I quite liked Ruby being shown as working in beautifying both the living and the dead. Focus would appear to have been on how proceedings look more than on any earth-shattering narrative though and on that front I think it is at times quite mesmeric and fascinating.
The Neon Demon may ultimately be style over substance but it's not completely vacuous and in my world there's certainly a place for offerings that have more to offer aesthetically than cerebrally and as a piece of eye candy I'm happy enough to award it a
The Neon Demon
Nicolas Winding Refn
2016
Nicolas Winding Refn
2016
Offbeat drama with aspects of horror that crosses something of a Lynchian tale with the aesthetic of Argento.
It's easy to see why this film has proved rather polarising. On the one hand it's often visually quite stunning, on the other it's easy to feel the tale just meanders slowly along with no major depth to it. Sure it presents the fashion industry as intrinsically shallow and one that makes those involved in it become self-absorbed and narcissistic beings (who would sell their own mother if they thought it would gain them an advantage in their dog-eat-dog world) but those are hardly groundbreaking perspectives.
That's not to say it doesn't touch on anything of interest - the yearning for eternal youth is central to the narrative and a theme that has oft been explored cinematically and I quite liked Ruby being shown as working in beautifying both the living and the dead. Focus would appear to have been on how proceedings look more than on any earth-shattering narrative though and on that front I think it is at times quite mesmeric and fascinating.
The Neon Demon may ultimately be style over substance but it's not completely vacuous and in my world there's certainly a place for offerings that have more to offer aesthetically than cerebrally and as a piece of eye candy I'm happy enough to award it a