RYAN GOSLING! KRISTIN SCOTT-THOMAS! THE DIRECTOR OF DRIVE! RYAN GOSLING! This has got to be an epic film, right? No, of course not. Gosling is the near-silent, brooding Julian (where have we seen that character before?) who, along with his brother Billy, smuggles drugs in and out of Bangkok. Billy brutally murders a prostitute and is then in turn killed by her father. The matriarch of Julian’s family, Crystal, turns up, expecting Julian to seek revenge for her son’s death. Step forward Kristin Scott-Thomas in her most unrecognisable role to date. She is pure evil and by default, the most entertaining; mutton dressed as the most inappropriate of lambs with ridiculous talons and a penchant for goading her son about the size of his manhood.
After the enormous success of Drive, whether you felt it was deserved or not, Nicolas Winding Refn must have been given free rein to direct whatever film he wanted. Sadly, the result is not what most other people wanted. Admittedly, it’s a beautifully shot film, if a little lethargic at times. Billy’s death takes place in the first ten minutes but I felt my eyelids drooping anyway. It’s as if Refn wanted to bore you into submission (it totally worked by the way) and the deep purple, moody lighting of Bangkok didn’t help. Half the time, Ryan Gosling is staring wide-eyed at his fists, as if he can’t believe the damage they have caused yet the main time we see him use them on anyone, he loses. Badly. And no-one actually cares.
This is the red band trailer so may cause offence. You have been warned.
The other half is taken up with him mooning after a beautiful and intelligent prostitute who, to quote The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw, is the only one “who emerges from … the movie, with any dignity and self-respect”. I’m genuinely bored of seeing Gosling play this ‘dangerous and edgy but unable to hold a proper conversation’ role. It worked in Drive, it was fine inBlue Valentineand it was even better in The Place Beyond the Pinesbut I would rather see him bantering with Steve Carell and stripping for Emma Stone any day (call me shallow).
Then there’s the near vigilante Thai policeman who takes the punishment of criminals into his own hands. Or rather slices off theirs. Although he doesn’t say much either, his scenes can be incredibly powerful - as soon as you see him reaching behind his back for his sword, you know someone is in serious trouble. And you can’t wait to see what happens - it’s slightly different every time. We, the audience, are Pavlov’s (in this case, Refn’s) dog. I’m never one to shy away from a violent or graphic scene (unless it involves razors for some reason) but Refn tests even my resolve, not that it’s necessarily a bad thing. We see blood, we see innards and we see stumps. The character of the policeman should be the most complex and memorable (I mean, he sings in random musical interludes for God’s sake) but it’s Scott-Thomas’Crystal who comes home with you. Her barely concealed, blinding fury at Julian’s reluctance to kill is really something to behold. It’s just a shame that it’s really the only thing worth watching in Only God Forgives.
2*
