Only God Forgives

Julian (Ryan Gosling) runs a Thai boxing club and smuggling ring with his brother Billy in Bangkok. Billy is suddenly murdered and their crime lord mother, Crystal (Kristin Scott Thomas) arrives to retrieve her sons body. When Crystal forces Julian to settle the score with his brothers killers, Julian finds himself in the ultimate showdown.

From the outset, as you see the Thai script title, you realise you aren't going to be experiencing your average run of the mill cinematic fare. This is a Nicolas Winding Refn film, a dark and deliberately paced art piece, bursting with vivid neon hues and dripping in dirty red blood.

A modern fairy tale, dreamlike in it's approach to character, situation and action, and unflinching in it's portrayal of gristly violence that accompanies the underworld of Bangkok. Ryan Gosling is tailor-made for his quietly intense role, and Thai actor Vithaya Pansringarm successfully melds evil, charm and justice together, as well as a beautiful singing voice.

The simple plot of revenge, retribution and a worrying 'mother complex' is handled in a very David Lynchian aesthetic. Some might find this hard to watch, but personally, I found the film riveting and it drew me in with each meticulously framed shot, each structured movement of character, and a music score that glues each element perfectly together. I honestly loved the detail, the way the policemen silently watched the karaoke singing, the way the club girls all sit, unblinking... Little creative elements like this bring this film into a whole different level.

Only God Forgives was shot on Arri Alexa Plus and a Red Epic, both with Cooke S4 lenses, and thusly, the 1:85:1 aspect Blu-ray image is detailed and sharp. Black levels are pretty good, and the incredibly bursting colour palette remains crisp without breaking down into a smudgy mess (which can happen with digital cameras and bright reds).

The Blu-ray also contains a DTS Master audio, and if you have the amplifier to play this, Cliff Martinez's score should be aural sensory bliss.

Extra features on the Australian release contain an audio commentary with Nicolas Winding Refn, cast and crew interviews and a reasonable behind the scenes documentary. A tip of the hat to the VFX team, who implemented many subtle fixes and enhancements to bring Refn's vision to reality.

In conclusion, Only God Forgives is a violent artistic journey, where visuals, sound and music combine in a meticulously thought out revenge fantasy.

The Gweilo Rates This 4 out of 5.

What You Can Expect.

Greetings. I've had this blog saved for a while now, and have yet to start actively use it. This very afternoon I decided to change this, and actually use it. I used to do a fair deal of creative writing, and since I watch a lot of movies and own them in various formats, and since I have a valid and often slightly skewed view on the current state of the film industry, if anything ever catches my attention, I should blog about it. So people can read it and possibly get something out of what they read, which is highly unlikely.

You may also currently be thinking to yourself, what does Gweilo mean? It's actually a slightly derogatory term many Chinese of Cantonese background, call a Caucasian such as myself. But, I am using it, as I also will have a wealth of reviews and discussions on my favourite cinematic region, Asia. Mainly films from Hong Kong, but also China, Japan, Korea etc.

Stay tuned for more posts! Even though you've probably just read this scrolling down from my first review...