Quote:
Originally Posted by Slow Groove
I've noticed people who dislike it really fucking hate it, and people who like it really love it. I really loved it, I just watched it again. It's more Valhalla Rising than it is Drive.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alfred
Only God Forgives
Taken at face value, the film won't satisfy you. Most of the appeal in this film is trying to figure out what exactly the characters and actions represent.
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I kind of disagree with you both. SG, I thought it was an entertaining 90 minutes but I really did not love it or hate it. I simply liked it. As for art films, I think Valhalla Rising is better than Only God Forgives but I found neither of them pretentious. Both rely on atmosphere and Refn has pretty much mastered atmosphere building.
Alfred, I think that what the characters and actions represent are right there on the surface, in plain view. I think the appeal is just watching the extremely simple story unfold. And the action scenes that are always brutal and/or gruesome.
Overall, I felt the minimal plot and story was rectified with an incredibly good atmosphere and I wasn't bored by the film at any point. I didn't find it to be particularly cerebral or "Lynchian" (Lynch uses a lot of story and plot, however much he distorts and and obscures them).
Kristin Scott Thomas really steals every scene that she's in, although maybe that's because she's the only one who has lines made of multiple entire sentences. Gosling's acting was as at least as minimal as everything else and it kind of validates this parody: