Only God Forgives

 

Only God Forgives 2013

• Director: Nicholas Winding Refn
• Seen by this director: Drive
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas, Vithaya Pansringarm, Gordon Brown, Yayating Ratha Phongam, Tom Burke
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Ryan Gosling – many
• Kristin Scott Thomas – many including Richard III
• Tom Burke – Strike, Utopia, The Invisible Woman, The Libertine
• Why? Gosling
• Seen:  1 January 2024

        If the most recent film you’ve seen with Ryan Gosling is as Ken in Barbie, you might be startled to see him in this role as Julian, a Thai boxing centre manager and drug runner. If you’ve ever seen Kristin Scott Thomas in anything at all, you might be stunned to see her here as Julian’s elegant, foul-mouthed psychotically cruel mother. She is also a drug runner and coldly determined to get revenge on the killer of Julian’s brother Billy (Burke) who was killed by the father of the girl he had raped and murdered.

       It is slow, hallucinatory, violent, and beautifully artistic. Some hate it. Some love it. Me, mostly I’m wondering, ‘WTF?’ But it is fascinating. I think that it has to be, for its sheer audacity

      4* of 5