I didn’t post this trailer for Nicolas Winding Refn’s new Ryan Gosling collaboration Only God Forgives when it was initially released online because I felt like the good stuff associated with this film would only come out once the movie was screened. And how right I was! Only God Forgives screened at Cannes recently and was met with a whole lot of boo-ing from the audience. Jeff Wells of the Hollywood Elsewhere blog probably has the most scathing review of the film that I have read yet, with this being a particularly choice snippet:
Movies really don’t get much worse than Nicholas Winding Refn‘s Only God Forgives. It’s a shit macho fantasy — hyperviolent, ethically repulsive, sad, nonsensical, deathly dull, snail-paced, idiotic, possibly woman-hating, visually suffocating, pretentious. I realize I sound like Rex Reed on one of his rants, but trust me, please — this is a defecation by an over-praised, over-indulged director who thinks anything he craps out is worthy of your time. I felt violated, shat upon, sedated, narcotized, appalled and bored stiff.
And so Only God Forgives joins the ranks of the movies booed by Cannes – a list that includes Taxi Driver, I might add. Is it wrong that this just makes me want to see the film even more? Oh, and in case you’re interested, here’s Refn’s response to the criticism:
I mean, how can I expect someone to not react like this when on one hand you are dropping what you do in everyone’s face and at the same time saying, “Love me, please,” you know? You’re going to get that. You know, great art — horrible thing to say — but art is meant to divide, because if it doesn’t divide, it doesn’t penetrate, and if it doesn’t penetrate, you just consume it.
Have I mentioned that I love that guy?