The Flickering Myth writing team look at the trailer for Only God Forgives…
Nicolas Winding Refn and Ryan Gosling really made a name for themselves with 2011’s Drive and now they are back together again with the first red band trailer for Only God Forgives. And as one would expect, this is very dark, moody and stylish, set within the murky Bangkok underworld of Thai boxing and prostitution.
Here’s the synopsis, and you can watch the trailer here:
“Bangkok. Ten years ago Julian [Ryan Gosling] killed a cop and went on the run. Now he manages a Thai boxing club as a front for a drugs operation. Respected in the criminal underworld, deep inside, he feels empty.”
Given the team-up of Refn and Gosling and the pretty-gripping trailer, it should come as no surprise that the Flickering Myth writing team got talking about Only God Forgives and what we can expect…
Brogan Jameson Morris: The trailer feels like a return to Refn’s darker work. Where Drive was poppy and at times a bit throwaway (though still a masterpiece in my opinion), Only God Forgives has got the intense, dread-soaked mood of Valhalla Rising and the striking, operatic visuals of Bronson. If there was any doubt that this was going to be a nightmare-styled thriller, then Refn cleared that up by putting a coat of red on EVERYTHING.
The cast looks great, too. Kristin Scott Thomas is looking sultry, Vithaya Pansringarm looks deadly and Ryan Gosling looks like his character approach was taking a look at The Driver, and saying “this guy isn’t psychopathic enough”. The trailer is stunning, even if there’s hardly any clue here as to what the film is actually about. Visually, though, you already know it’s going to be something to behold.
Ozzy Armstrong: As someone who can take or leave most of Refn’s work other then the excellent Drive, this looks like it could be very interesting.
A dark, sexual tone with immensely powerful cinematic touches combined with the continuing emergence of Gosling as a stoic yet emotionally gifted actor makes this appeal to me greatly.
I just hope that there is enough of a story to make this film work, something lacking from Refn’s earlier work in my opinion.
Jack Morris: The quote of 2010 from all of my friends was “Have you seen Drive?!” and I think 2013 is going to follow in its footsteps with “Have you seen Only God Forgives?!” (doesn’t really roll off the tongue as well though).
After initially hearing about this I wondered how Refn and Gosling were going to top the uber stylish Drive, but I think they may have managed to hit the mark with this one. I like how the trailer gives hardly anything away, but you are still invited to gaze into another over the top world that Refn has once again created. Gosling may not be my favourite actor, but these two look like a dynamite pairing once again, and I for one cannot wait to see the finished product!
Chris Cooper: Very interesting. Love how we only hear a couple of words from Gosling. I thought Drive was great, if a little overrated, but this looks like another fascinating piece of work from the Refn/Gosling.
The music is lovely too, and comes together with the predominantly red palette to set an eerie tone. One to watch out for I think.
Tom Jolliffe: Well that’s got me interested. Drive blew me away. As for most it kind of came out of the blue. I’d never been a fan of Gosling before that as I’d kind of attached him to chick flick material like The Notebook, but that really made me take notice of him and I’ve sought out a few of his films since. This looks like another really intriguing film from Refn. The trailer doesn’t give much away except for a certain, unmistakable Drive style. It also took me until seeing her name to realise that Kristen Scott Thomas wasn’t Ellen Barkin. I’ll probably state right now, happily, that if I have to watch one film this year, I’ll watch this. Drive has set a very high bar though.
Oliver Davis: That cut from the woman rolling up her dress to Gosling clenching his fists is magnificent.
David Bishop: The trailer doesn’t give much away, a relief in these spoiler filled times, but I like the look of it. Visually its very distinctive and Gosling looks as cool as ever.
Can’t day the trailer has got me overly excited, but it’s certainly intriguing.
Robert W Monk: Refn is one of the most interesting filmmakers around (I’m a big fan of everything he’s done) and his work with Gosling on Drive was, to nearly everyone’s eyes, pretty awesome. A lot of it was the look and the soundtrack plus his characteristic uber-violence, but on the whole it really took people outside the box.
As David says, the trailer doesn’t give a lot, but the look is there. And Cliff Martinez is doing the soundtrack. And Gos is Gos… so all the right signs are there. If Only God Forgives can get near to that level, we’ll be in for another Refn/Gos knock-out. Kristen Scott-Thomas doesn’t often get things wrong too…
Martin Deer: Agreed with all of the positive comments, I won’t try and better them. This looks very interesting, the score, the lighting, it has this wonderful feel. Excited for this.
Luke Owen: I’ve not really given Drive enough of a chance to be excited about the director’s work, but I’ve got to admit that this does have me intrigued. I love trailers that don’t give away anything and just give you cool visuals with wicked music to draw you in – it’s one of the reasons why I think Watchmen is one of the best trailers of the last decade.
Gosling is far to pretty to be real and, and as Oli said, that rolling up dress shot to Gosling was fantastic. Well played trailer, well played.
Villordsutch: Looks like a film I’d love, but my wife would hate. There are a few films I see the trailer for, that make me feel like I need to see it. This falls into that few.
Anghus Houvouras: Good trailer. I like that Refn exists. We could use a few more original voices out there in cinema. But if I’m being honest, I find his work vastly overrated. Drive was one of those stylish noir thrillers that people projected depth onto. It was a serviceable and well constructed movie but was about as smart as a box full of hammers. The crazy antisemitic conspiracy theories were more interesting and engaging than anything in Drive. People seem so desperate to find “the next big thing” and that hipster bandwagon somehow got hitched to Drive and Refn. To me, Refn is the new Terrance Mallick. Ill see whatever he does but have accepted that the vast majority of his output is going to be stylised garbage that cinephiles tend to give more credit to than it deserves.
Robert W Monk: Pretty harsh Anghus. Pusher was ages ago. And apart from the old ultra-violence, Bronson and Valhalla Rising are completely different kinds of film. Perhaps Drive did indeed appeal to a ‘hipper than thou’ element, largely because of some choice cuts on the soundtrack, but I don’t think this has anything to do with Refn.
Helen Murdoch: I’ve been a big fan of Refn since he did Bronson. Only God Forgives seems much darker then Drive and I’m excited to see what the Refn-Gosling pairing throws up this time.
I like the moody lighting, cool soundtrack and the lack of dialogue from Gosling. I do wonder how the fan girls will react to a beaten up Gosling!
Tom Jolliffe: I think there’s an element of cinema-goers who will delve deep into certain films and extract a lot of meaning, even if the intent was never there from the film-makers. I wouldn’t say Drive set itself out to be really high brow. There is depth there, but I wouldn’t say that Refn’s Drive pretentiously claims to be highly intelligent and layered like say The Matrix were. They’ve been almost limitlessly picked apart by film buffs.
For me Drive sets out to be a very stylish, considered thriller. There’s depth there, which rests on Goslings performances. As far as stoic performances go, I’ll say whole heatedly that it’s one of the best. It’s reminiscent of De Niro in Taxi Driver. Now it never reached that level of brilliance by any means, but I think it was still a fantastic film. Only God Forgives looks a similar vein. Some might be getting their note pads ready to pick it apart and extract all manner of philosophical, religious, mythological, references or whatever. But for me I think there’s an art to making really good films with minimal dialogue. It’s hard to do. Drive may have been style over substance but that was because it was so magnificently stylish, it would have had to have had Stephen Hawking levels of substances to match up. After all Quentin Tarantino can do no wrong, and he is one of the champions of style over substance. When done right though, is it such a bad thing? As long as there is some substance there. Again, like Drive, this may well come from Goslings performance.
David Bishop: Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Anghus Houvouras: Goslings performance in Drive was fascinating because it showed an actor who is remarkably comfortable with silence. Few actors posses that level of skill, the ability to do so little and yet somehow command your attention. It’s a gift. Unfortunately its still gets very boring very quickly. while his performance in Drive was interesting and exhibited a level of talent few have, it was still a character who was hard to root for or be engaged by.
So there you have it – a mostly positive reaction for the stylish noir-esque trailer. But the question coming from all of this is – is Refn over or underrated?
What are your thoughts on the trailer for Only God Forgives?
