Only God Forgives (Nicolas Winding Refn) (2013)

[OpiumKungFuCracker]

Listening to a podcast and they compared this movie to Belly.

[Gwai LO]

http://moviepilot.com/posts/2014/04/11/why-you-should-give-only-god-forgives-another-watch-1331727?lt_source=external,manual

Awesome review. I re watched after reading this

[BaronK]

So the talk of a new picture by the director led me back to this. Figured I'd hit the web to get other takes, whatever. Read these and all it sounds to me is, everyone is telling themselves they get it all.

In this (http://www.starpulse.com/news/Nicholas_Wrobel/2013/07/22/understanding_only_god_forgives_and_wh), he breaks it all down, clearing everything you missed cause you didn't get it. Saw the same movie he did. Not trying to be a brick but, what?

Here (http://www.diyfactory.org/UyLbuHoWRUZPOn/Only-God-Forgives-EXPLAINED-Movie-Review-(SPOILERS).html), so many people are all over the place trying so desperately to interpret what is not clear or explained, it validates much of others disdain for the picture. So many reaching, breaking down the same scenes with what they honestly believe is the truth of the situation, yet saying different things. That screams of them not knowing either, yet they won't acknowledge that.

Seems like he made the picture this way to mind f the viewer by not giving you any information to understand what you're watching when you're watching it, or when it's over.

To anyone that saw it and thinks they get it all, read the first review that breaks down "clearly"(in his mind) and tell me, is that how you saw it all?

[masterofoneinchpunch]

I think the film is too ambiguous to actually be gotten, especially with just one "reading" of it. I have no problem with a director taking that approach, though I wasn't overly happy with the results here. Some of the below I have written on a previous site (for some reason I didn't write here too much about this film.) In fact the cinematography in OGF sometimes reminded me of Last Year at Marienbad with the slow moving camera, though it does not have the ambiguousness of that classic.

There are scenes I like about Only God Forgives and it has an interesting atmosphere and a nightmarish dinner between Gosling and his "girlfriend" and his mom (I've actually had worse). I wish there had been more scenes like that instead of being like a more violent Tarkovsky which he is obviously influenced by (Refn stated one of his main influences for Valhalla Rising was Tarkovsky.) After viewing some of the extras, Refn stated that he took out most of the dialog because he did not like the heavily accented English and did not want to go with subtitles (using Thai for the spoken language, this is the route I would have taken, since I tend to be a realist I would not have minded the accented English either and I like the Thai language.) So by that fact of happenstance it seems that he did not plan a multilayered allegorical piece, but decided to make the film more mute to then become more mysterious.

Only God Forgives is nowhere near Drive so to me in terms of enjoyment and it really reminded me of my feelings on Valhalla Rising that the film is too opaque full of symbols but not humans. When I finished the extras (sans commentary, if anyone listens to this please post your feelings on it). It is weird that Refn doesn't like fighting, but likes on-screen violence. There is not much action in the film and the fight sequence with Gosling was so one-sided (I know why for metaphorical reasons) that it is a little uninteresting. I do wonder if I will rewatch this.

[SamSeed]

I honestly hated this film. Never have I been quite so let down by a film. After Drive I went in prepared to expect something diffeent to the norm but I certainly wasn't expecting this. I think it biled down to the fact that I just didn't care. Crucially about Gosling's character but just the whole thing. When it finally came to the fight scene I thought it might pick up. Again I realised that this was more of an 'arty' film, so in that sense the fight wasn't going to be as cinematic as, say, a Van Damme vehicle. But because I didn't care about Gosling I therefore didn't care about the outcome of the fight, which in itself was short and it would have been nice to see a bit more of an exchange/sparrring. I will say that it was well shot, Refn knows how to frame his scenes, but otherwise I will not be watching it again.

[Takuma]

So the talk of a new picture by the director led me back to this. Figured I'd hit the web to get other takes, whatever. Read these and all it sounds to me is, everyone is telling themselves they get it all.

In this (http://www.starpulse.com/news/Nicholas_Wrobel/2013/07/22/understanding_only_god_forgives_and_wh), he breaks it all down, clearing everything you missed cause you didn't get it. Saw the same movie he did. Not trying to be a brick but, what?

Here (http://www.diyfactory.org/UyLbuHoWRUZPOn/Only-God-Forgives-EXPLAINED-Movie-Review-(SPOILERS).html), so many people are all over the place trying so desperately to interpret what is not clear or explained, it validates much of others disdain for the picture. So many reaching, breaking down the same scenes with what they honestly believe is the truth of the situation, yet saying different things. That screams of them not knowing either, yet they won't acknowledge that.

Seems like he made the picture this way to mind f the viewer by not giving you any information to understand what you're watching when you're watching it, or when it's over.

To anyone that saw it and thinks they get it all, read the first review that breaks down "clearly"(in his mind) and tell me, is that how you saw it all?

I think the problem with that approach is that you're desperately trying to apply an overly logical approach to a fantasy film set set between heaven and hell, and where one character clearly represents some kind of God (note: not the Christian god.) Seem a bit beside the point when the movie is a spiritual/emotional ride, not a logical/analytical one.

It's fine not to like that kind of movie, just like it's ok not to like musicals because people burst out singing and dancing in the strangest places, and it's ok not to like martial arts movies where people go for hand-to-hand combat even when using guns would be more logical. But it's a bit strange that so many people try to analyze or critisize a movie from a perspective that the movie is intentionally trying to distance itself from.