Only God Forgives: a Movie Review

So this weekend I had a chance to go see Only God Forgives at the AFI Silver Theatre. At the time of writing, it’s still showing there, but I doubt it will be when you’re reading this. My review’s a bit late then, but do check out the AFI Silver if you’re in the area. They’re always showing excellent movies. Anyway, Only God Forgives is directed and written by Nicolas Winding Refn, and like in his previous film, Drive, the lead role is played by Ryan Gosling. Also like Drive, this film is an abstract, surrealist film that bears more resemblance to a painting or a song than to most movies. Both films are bathed in the same bright neon glow, and they feature ambient electronic music in the soundtrack. In a film like this, the plot and characters are secondary to aesthetics and form.  Every aspect of the film is highly controlled and stylized, down to the movements of the actors. Realism is replaced by symbols and aesthetics.

I loved Drive: everything in the film, from the cinematography to the soundtrack worked together, drawing on diverse influences to create a unique experience. But Only God Forgives is not Drive. I didn’t want to compare these two movies, but I’m going to anyway. Drive is a more accessible movie; it’s not as abstract as Only God Forgives and it’s not as violent. Only God Forgives relies on images and symbols rather than dialogue to convey meaning, to an even greater degree than Drive did. Many scenes in Drive had a sort of surreal, dream-like quality, but this is extended to almost every scene in Only God Forgives, blurring the distinction between real and imagined events in the film.

taken from imdb.com

The actors don’t talk much, but they do all speak the language of violence. While the violent scenes in Drive were brutal, there were only a few, acting like punctuation marks in the film’s structure. Only God Forgives is a bloodbath from start to finish. I won’t get into the issue of violence in media here (let me know if that’s something you’re interested in reading an article about), but it’s worth mentioning in a film like this, where violence takes the place of speaking for many characters. At one point, Gosling’s character Julian greets Chang, played by Vithaya Pansringarm, with just two words: “wanna fight?” Chang doesn’t even have to answer.

But the film’s abstract symbolism does make it difficult to understand. There’s no real philosophical message past the assertion of the film’s title, but the film leaves a lot for the viewer to interpret. This isn’t a film like Cloud Atlas, where one character’s speech near the end sums up the entire message of the movie. While the ideas aren’t that complex in Only God Forgives, it might take a little thought to make any sense of the ending. The film doesn’t tell you what to think, but shows you events and ties them together with symbols. Sometimes a sword is just a sword, but not in this movie, where symbolism pervades everything. 

For all that, this movie still isn’t as good as Drive. Or at least not as accessible or enjoyable for most audiences. For one thing, Only God Forgives has almost no likeable characters. Julian only ends up the protagonist because everyone else does horrible things on a regular basis, while he tries not to. But as I said before, the characters are secondary here. They seem to be in the film only to complete the blood-soaked picture. I don’t think we’re meant to empathize with them as human beings, but instead observe them like brushstrokes in a painting.

That treatment of film-as-canvas ends up being this film’s greatest strength but also its weakness. Beyond the aesthetics and almost kabuki-like performance, there’s not much else to this film. If you can appreciate it for its excellent directing and cinematography, this movie is worth watching, but it has very little in the way of a traditional story structure or character development. The characters don’t grow or change; there’s a certain fatalism in their actions instead. By the time they’re all introduced, you’ll know exactly which characters have to die to resolve the story… and earn forgiveness in a way. To put it simply, you can probably understand this film if you realize why it ends with a dedication to Alejandro Jodorowsky.

Also: The AFI Silver is showing Drive on September 14, 16, and 18. If you haven’t already seen it and/or would rather watch in in a theater than on TV, check it out. They’re also showing a few of Nicolas Winding Refn’s other movies, namely the Pusher trilogy for a few days in August as part of their series of Scandinavian crime movies.

Danilo Culibrk, aka Augustus, is a staff writer for the Red Shirt Crew. He needs to check the AFI Silver calendar more often, so he doesn’t miss out on great movies so much and write reviews so late after a film opens. You can follow his drives through neon-lit darkness on Twitter at @Augustusing.