The Neon Demon 2016

Sarah: "What does it feel like, to walk into a room, and it's like in the middle of winter. You're the sun."

Jesse: "It's everything".

The Neon Demon is a movie experience that I will never forget. From the minute it starts, I was glued to the screen and not once could I look away, even with the long silent moments, I was still hooked. The LA lights are something to drift away too.

Nicolas Winding Refn can be a love or hate thing with me. I loved "Drive" and "Bronson". I didn't like "Valhalla Rising" and "Only God Forgives" that much. He's got talent, I can see that and I know that he wants to make movies that only he wants to see, and not just for others. I think we all can agree that all of he's movies are shot so beautifully and if one of he's movies as the word "Neon" in the title, then you better you expect something glorious. Refn shines in The Neon Demon by adding this dream like fairy tale theme to the mix. There was so many times I had a "Suspiria" and a Michael Mann vibe to this (with the use of colors and the LA lights). This was such a step up from "Only God Forgives".

And here's why.

What "Only God Forgives" was trying to get across in it's symbolism was too simple that I pretty much got all of it. It got repetitive in terms of the visual imagery that the film constantly presents, but I feel that those scenes didn't have any glue to hold those previous scenes together. It was pretty much all icing but no cake. And while I got what Refn was doing with "Neon Demon" in terms of the fashion industry, but I still feel that there's more to it then that. Even through I don't 100% understand all of it, I still felt that I got more out of it than "OGF". Is it obvious of what it's getting across? With the fashion industry, yes, but with everything else, no. I think plenty of re-watches might help, as I do want to watch this again.

Elle Fanning was pretty fantastic as the beautiful but dangerous Jesse. But I thought Jena Malone steals the show, as she was brilliant. Her character dose the most unnerving things that you can't even imagine, but still manages to be attractive. Oh and I can't look at Keanu Reeves the same way again after this. He's good in this but...damn. Refn characters are not from this earth.

The opening sequence to this movie is just magnificent. It's everything that a movie should do to get you engaged. The staging was on point, the framing was flawless and Cliff Martinez amazing soundtrack blasting in your ears was just icing. It left a massive smile on my face.

Where do I even begin with the soundtrack in this movie. It's sexy, stylish with a bit of glitter and just pure magic. It's probably one of my favorite soundtracks of this year. Cliff Martinez is just a fantastic composer that always delivers that an excellent 80's vibe in he's music. Even topping his previous work which I didn't expect him to do.

There's some things in this that I did pick up on that I'm not sure if others have. The cannibalism in the movie is basically another way of looking at the industry of modeling, with models who actually do starve themselves to death just to get the perfect shape. Basically letting your body eat itself, which is cannibalism. I might be over thinking things, but I thought to throw it in there as a cool little thing to bring to the table.

Everyone in this film sounds so fake and shallow, and that's not even a complaint. Beauty from the outside but shallow and dead from the inside. It's all intentional.

It's not a perfect film. The story is flat and the dialogue is really bad in a few scenes. It can be quite stupid at times, but I'm glad it doesn't take itself too seriously.

This isn't for everyone, as I already have seen two sides to this. You either love it or hate it, and I can understand both reasons. Different strokes for different folks.

Overall rating: The Neon Demon is a disturbing and yet beautiful film that's very hard to recommend to people. While not my favorite of Refn, but it's pretty damn close, like third place. I honestly can see this having a cult following in the future. I really do.

The Neon Demon is a spectacular failure, but not for most of the reasons people claim. The film is not gratuitous, nor is it vapid, poorly acted, or ugly. It is a beautiful film. But, it is a film that refuses to simply be satisfied with being beautiful. In that ambition, it stumbles. The Neon Demon has both generic and allegorical aspirations to which it utterly fails to live up.

As a thriller or horror film, The Neon Demon is an abject failure. There is nothing foreboding, thrilling, or even concerning about the series of events that unfold. The vaguest semblance of plot that exists is content to give itself away at the film's outset. After all, how can any viewer, after watching the first scene, imagine that the film won't end with Jesse a pretty corpse and Ruby bathing in her blood? Such formal faltering could be read as subversion if there was the slightest hint of cleverness or self-awareness. As it stands, Refn's attempt at minimalism looks more like simple incompetence.

Worse, still, is the film's attempt at philosophical engagement. Refn's crucial intertext is Mulholland Drive. Though this might be a tough sell based on Refn's utter bumbling of his subtext, the connectivity between Refn and Lynch becomes clear when looking at how much Refn owes Lynch in terms of his shots and even how he directs his actors. While Mulholland Drive and The Neon Demon give us similar images of LA, one can imagine that Club Silencio is just minutes away from the clubs and stages Jesse, Ruby, Gigi, and Sarah traipse through and across, Refn grasps at Lynch's ideological coattails. While Mulholland Drive has the benefit of being a film about, like most good movies, itself — Refn attempts to reach outside of his medium into the world of modeling. While I can't say conclusively if there's not a clever and rich film to be made about LA, modeling, images, and physical beauty, Refn certainly does not make a strong case for such a film. Refn's engagement with Lynch reveal the shortcomings of The Neon Demon more than Refn's allusions could ever enrich it. The final nail in the coffin (or final vomited eyeball) is the fact that Refn can't seem to hide the contempt for his subjects in this film. It is hard to commit to good-faith exploration of a concept while Refn seems intent on being so self-righteous and didactic about what he's supposed to be interrogated and denaturalizing. If I were being charitable, I'd say the final scene might metaphorize the unconscious desire to excise the moralism that remains at the heart of this tepid film.

Refn's Drive was such an immense triumph, and Only God Forgives is at least fascinating in delivering a plodding does of pretty scenes. The only regret I have about The Neon Demon is that, rather than being a colossal thought-provoking kind of failure, it fails because of the exact kind of pedestrian mismanagement of both plot and subtext that can be so easily identified. Better luck next time.

As many others have said, this film is a masterpiece of beautiful pretentious nonsense. Though every character comments on protagonist Jesse's otherworldly beauty and magnetic allure, it never really comes across onscreen. She might look the part but she ultimately lacks the necessary charisma to make the role convincing. The plot takes forever to get to the point and when it does it trades subtlety and minimalism for grotesque over-the-top melodrama. Instead of becoming fleshed out and developed as the story continues, the characters turn from vapid stereotypes to absurd caricatures in the space of about five minutes with no real explanation.

However it crosses the line from poor taste into straight out offensive when the film's lesbian character Ruby (following a failed attempt to rape the virginal Jesse) proceeds to molest a woman's corpse. She later conspires with models Gigi and Sarah to kill Jesse and eat her flesh and Ruby's final scene of the film shows her lying naked on the floor as blood gushes from her vagina. It's super gross.

While Ruby isn't the only woman in the film portrayed as monstrous and grotesque, she is the only one whose depravity is distinctly sexual. Unlike the other women who are driven to commit horrifying acts due to a jealous obsession with absorbing Jesse's youth and vitality, Ruby is driven instead by a pathetic yearning for intimacy which grows into sexual obsession.

She becomes yet another in a long history of fictional lesbians who are emotionally unstable, obsessive, lonely, desperate sexual predators incapable of any real connection. Ruthless and revolting though they are, Gigi and Sarah's friendship at least feels genuine and they are there for each other up until the very end - while Ruby dies elsewhere alone in an empty room.

Ultimately, despite all the artsy symbolism, there is nothing original or deep about this film and - ironically for a film that claims to critique the cruel and shallow nature of the fashion industry - the only new and interesting thing about this film are the visuals.

Nicolas Winding Refn tells the cruelty, superficiality, and emptiness of the fashion industry with a self-indulgent, pretentious film that feels just as cold and empty. I don't like the phrase "style over substance", as not all films need to have an engaging plot or make life-changing statements, but ravishing cinematography aside there is literally nothing here. And by "ravishing" I might have made an understatement: "The Neon Demon" is in many ways the pinnacle of Refn's aesthetic pursuit, and offers two hours of dazzling, beautifully composed shots that go beyond haute couture glamour. As suggested by the title, the photography is dominated by a vivid palette of highly saturated neon colors, often playing with contrasts of red and blue, two colors that retain a symbolic meaning in the film. However, that's really all about it.

The plot follows young model Jess as the moral corruption of the industry transforms her from the naive girl next door we love into a narcissistic bitch. Refn fills the script with awkward dialogue and trite commentaries on the industry and the destructive force of beauty that consumes both who has it and who seeks it.

The first half is actually pretty enjoyable, as you are have not grown tired of the visuals yet and wonder what direction the film is going. Then it all turns into a tacky music video with cannibal lesbian witches… Don't misunderstand me, I DO appreciate that Refn always tries to cross the line and do extreme stuff, and I have no problem seeing tits guts flying around, even in a serious film. However, this time it just looked like a tasteless provocation from a fetishist. I know those scenes were meant to shock and disturb, but they are so corny I almost laughed the whole time. But that's pretty much all you will remember about the film.

My interpretation: that the natural beauty that Jesse owns is some kind of powerful magic that attracts people, and that makes her unknowingly some kind of witch herself. The three witches notice that and plot to eat her as soon as she reaches full power so that her magic can be passed on to them (it's starting to sound like Attack on Titan). Gigi's beauty is manufactured, probably she wasn't even born with her power, and eventually couldn't take it? Who knows, but Jess being eaten was a nice metaphor of showbiz, where there is always someone ready to feast on your corpse the second you die.

I kept this review warm for weeks as I was not sure about my final verdict, but let's go for a more than decent rating to honor not only the beauty of the cinematography, but also Refn's will to risk with every film.