Only God Forgives????

[RossChristianAlagna 0]

Has anyone else seen this movie? I'm not quite sure it it's the best worst movie I've seen or just a complete pile of shit! Lets discuss this sundance bomb (pretty sure it was booed).

[PhillipMedoc 648]

Jesus fucking christ.

[RyanSz 3140]

And it continues. No way does this get discussed on the show. The movie was more artsy than anything, I mean really, there may have been at most 10 pages of dialogue for the entire movie. The movie was polarizing as it got booed by some while receiving a standing ovation from others in the crowd, but that's it.

[Brett Arnold 55]

I actually quite liked this film, even after expecting it to be shit after reading the onslaught of horrible reviews.

[Wien 401]

35

Average Rating: 4.9/10

Reviews Counted: 101

Fresh: 35 | Rotten: 66

 

 

 

Director Refn remains as visually stylish as ever, but Only God Forgives fails to add enough narrative smarts or relatable characters to ground its beautifully filmed depravity.

 

 

 

"The film received a very divisive response at its Cannes press screening; it was booed by many of the audience of journalists and critics while also receiving a standing ovation.^[12][18] It received a mixed to negative response from mainstream critics."

 

A standing ovation AND booing at the same time? How confusing... Maybe they were saying "Boooo-uurns".

[PhillipMedoc 648]

A standing ovation AND booing at the same time? How confusing... Maybe they were saying "Boooo-uurns".

This is not an uncommon event at Cannes, there's a long tradition of this. The audiences there are giving the movie press what they want. Tree Of Life was booed, Cronenberg's Crash was booed, Lynch's Wild At Heart was booed when he won the Palme d'Or. Fucking Antonioni's L'Avventura was booed.

[justinmh05 1968]

This is not an uncommon event at Cannes, there's a long tradition of this. The audiences there are giving the movie press what they want. Tree Of Life was booed, Cronenberg's Crash was booed, Lynch's Wild At Heart was booed when he won the Palme d'Or. Fucking Antonioni's L'Avventura was booed.

 

The French (and Andrew Sarris) have always been weird about Antonioni - with many critics going so far as to dub him the insulting 'Antoniennui' at the time. Fuck 'em!

[wyldride 285]

A standing ovation AND booing at the same time? How confusing... Maybe they were saying "Boooo-uurns".

I was saying, "Boo-urns,"

[JustinL 216]

I was saying, "Boo-urns,"

 

Someone had to.

[JordanBush 0]

Has anyone else seen this movie? I'm not quite sure it it's the best worst movie I've seen or just a complete pile of shit! Lets discuss this sundance bomb (pretty sure it was booed).

 

Yeah it's gotten terrible terrible reviews, it's my understanding that it was booed at Sundance, and every critic who saw it singled it out as the worst movie there. I still haven't seen it, and I really want to...I want to know why it's so bad (or if it isn't that bad, I love all the Nic Refn movies I've seen).

 

The other day I checked Fandango to see which theaters were showing it, there was only ONE showing it within a 100 MILE RADIUS, It's weird, all the negative feedback it's received only makes me want to see it more and more.

 

I understand why DRIVE was so polarizing, but it seems like everyone says Only God Forgives is terrible, and I'm very curious as to why, because the trailers for it were great and I was really looking forward to seeing it.

[RyanSz 3140]

Drive was polarizing it seems for casual audience members as it critics loved it with a current RT of 93%. OGF is polarizing to critics I feel as the director went so much into the visual aspect of film over dialogue and overt character development, and the movie is pretty artsy in comparison to Drive or Bronson. And I'm not understating it when I wrote that the movie had maybe 10 pages of dialogue as most of it uses the visual aspect to let the audience understand what is happening.

 

The other reason I feel critics hate the movie is that the characters are some of the most morally reprehensible people I've ever seen in a movie. It starts with Gosling's character's brother leaving work to go to a brothel where he tells the pimp he wants an underage prostitute, in the same tone that a person would ask for a cup of tea. When he is refused he asks for the pimp to bring his daughter down for sex which is also refused. THIS IS HOW THE CHARACTER IS INTRODUCED. He then proceeds to go on a rampage in the brothel before leaving to find the sex he is looking for, which ultimately leads to his downfall and the overall progression of the story.

 

The mother is a whole other can of fucked up worms and the "Angel of Vengeance" is one of the most fascinating characters I've seen in a long time. The movie is brutal in its showing of violence, more so than Drive which used quick cuts a lot. This movie shows the nitty gritty of these acts in uncomfortable detail at times.

 

There were times I would have preferred the movie to be more straightforward and not use dreams/symbolism, but it was worth it for me to drive 30 miles to see it in a rundown indie theater in Sacramento, as I did enjoy the movie and its way of storytelling. If you liked Drive and Bronson, you will probably like this, just be forewarned that it a different experience.

 

I also loved the experience of seeing it in the theater that I did as it was very old fashioned. It was a small 4 screen theater that looks like it hasn't changed any of the settings, outside of the sound system since the 50s. I could hear the Way, Way, Back in the theater next door and the theater I was in had one dim light keeping the room from being pitch black. It makes me appreciate going to theaters now as they are so much improved over what they used to be, but it's still nice to remember them. I also got a kick out of seeing the couple that went to this movie. I could tell by looking at them that the guy got his girlfriend to go along by saying "It's the new Ryan Gosling movie" but not telling her what it's about. So when it got REALLY violent and disturbing he would turn and give her a peck on the cheek or lips, almost as if preemptively making up for it once the movie was over.

[Wien 401]

I just don't like Ryan Gosling.

[seanotron 2307]

It looks very interesting, but I've had the violence described to me and I know I wouldn't be able to make it through. Maybe when it's out on Bluray and I can fast-forward.

[thestray 361]

I just don't like Ryan Gosling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqs7857hksM

 

I feel like people have formed this opinion of Ryan Gosling based on like maybe one or two performances. But if you look at his whole career I think he's showed plenty of range. I think they were going for a specific thing in Drive, and he nailed it. I don't think an actor has to be super emotive in any given role, because people in life aren't always super emotive either.

 

I mean yeah, he has kind of a funny voice, but what can he do about that? Haha.

[seanotron 2307]

I think Gosling is pretty damned good. He was great in Lars & The Real Girl.

[thestray 361]

Hannibal Burress' rant about Lars and the Real Girl on Doug Loves Movies is pretty hilarious.

[thestray 361]

I finally watched this. It's very cool visually and there are some nice sequences, and it's very close to being a good movie, but it's more style than substance. It's more preoccupied with being artsy than it is with telling a good story or offering up an interesting fully-formed relatable character. There were definitely some moments that made me laugh, and a few that made me go "The fuck?"

[RyanSz 3140]

I finally watched this. It's very cool visually and there are some nice sequences, and it's very close to being a good movie, but it's more style than substance. It's more preoccupied with being artsy than it is with telling a good story or offering up an interesting fully-formed relatable character. There were definitely some moments that made me laugh, and a few that made me go "The fuck?"

 

Can we coin a new term for directors who go fully into the "arts" of film making in the way that actors go "full tard?" We could call it "full artsy." I agree that it was more for the visuals of it all and brief glimpses of what makes the characters tick, though when that mom said the brother probably had his reasons for raping/killing an underage prostitute, it made my head spin a bit and realize okay I'm in for a ride here.

[thestray 361]

I think it would've been a lot better if they went a step further and made them feel like real people, even if some of them are really awful real people. I also don't think Refn quite has a handle on telling a story with minimal dialog, there were lots of moments of people staring blankly that didn't seem to really be conveying anything. In Drive Gosling came off as a stoic Man With No Name type of person, but in this movie I don't know what the hell was going on with him, he seemed like he had some developmental issues or something.

[RyanSz 3140]

That makes sense after hearing how his mother talked about his brother and him. It seems she raised the first son in an incestuous relationship with the hopes of making him as brutal and cruel as herself while Gosling's character was emotionally stunted and deprived in order to make him almost completely compliant to both of their needs.

[lolholm 5]

It's oddly interesting, but one of the least satisfying films I've ever seen. I think you are left with an ambivalent feelings about both the main characters and because of that, the resolutiaton just doesn't feel like the neat bowtie you'll usually get in a modern film. It's a weird one.

[wakefresh 689]

I watched this and was kinda disappointed. I was expecting more violence, although the fight between the main character and that old man was real good. Also, this might as well have been a silent movie. The only one with any lines is the messed up mother.

[RyanSz 3140]

See when I heard about critics being appalled at the violence, I feel it wasn't because there was a lot of it, which there was a good bit more than in Drive, but rather how graphic it was. From the cop slicing a guys chest open diagonally where you see cut ribs to the driveby to the torture scene, it was pretty cringeworthy at times. And I could easily see Kristen Scott Thomas getting a best supporting actress nomination for her role since the Academy loves to give nominations to people who break out of their comfort zone in roles.