Only God Forgives

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Only God Forgives
Teaser poster
Directed byNicolas Winding Refn
Written byNicolas Winding Refn
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyLarry Smith
Edited byMatthew Newman
Music byCliff Martinez
Production
companies
Distributed byScanbox Entertainment (Scandinavia)[1]
Wild Side Films (France)[2]
Release dates
  • 22 May 2013 (2013-05-22) (Cannes)
  • 30 May 2013 (2013-05-30) (Denmark)
Running time
90 minutes[3]
Countries
  • Denmark
  • France[4]
LanguagesEnglish
Thai
Budget$4.8 million[5][6]
Box office$10.6 million[1]

Only God Forgives is a 2013 action film[7][8] written and directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and stars Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas and Vithaya Pansringarm.[7][8][4][9] It was shot on location in Bangkok, Thailand, and as with the director's earlier film Drive it was also dedicated to Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky. The film competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.[10][11][12][13]

Only God Forgives was released at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival to polarized reviews from critics who praised its soundtrack, action sequences and Winding Refn's traditional style, but was heavily criticised for its screenwriting and characterization.

Plot[edit]

Julian and Billy are brothers and American expatriates, who run a Muay Thai boxing club in Bangkok as a front for drug dealing. One night, Billy goes looking for sex and visits a brothel, saying he wants a 14-year-old girl, but the brothel-keeper refuses. Enraged, Billy attacks him with a wine bottle and breaks into the room where the prostitutes are on display and attacks one of them. At another location, Billy later assaults and kills an underage prostitute where he is cornered by Thai police. Chang, who is a vigilante-type police lieutenant, brings the girl's father Choi to identify his daughter's body and allows Choi to beat Billy to death. Chang later severs Choi's right forearm with his sword for allowing his daughter to be a prostitute.

Upon discovering Billy's death, Julian and his crew confront Choi, but Julian spares his life. However, Julian and Billy's mother Crystal arrives in Bangkok and demands that he kill the man responsible for Billy's death. Julian refuses, believing Choi's revenge was justified. After having Choi killed, Crystal learns of Chang's involvement, where she meets with a rival drug dealer named Byron and offers to cut him into her drug operation in exchange for a hit on Chang. Chang investigates Choi's murder and concludes Julian is not the killer. That evening, Julian brings Mai as his girlfriend to meet Crystal at a restaurant. However, Crystal discovers the ruse, where she insults Mai and demeans Julian.

Two hitmen hired by Byron attempt to kill Chang with machine guns at a restaurant, causing the deaths of numerous customers and two of Chang's men. Chang kills one and also brutally tortures the other one. The hitman leads Chang to Li Po, who has resorted to arranging hits to pay for his disabled son. Chang kills the hitman with his sword but spares Li Po. Chang finds Byron in a club and tortures him to death but cannot find the person who ordered the hit. After recognizing Chang as the man from his visions and failing to follow him, Julian eventually finds Chang and challenges him to a fight at his boxing club. Chang quickly defeats Julian, who cannot land a single blow. Afterwards, Crystal tells Julian that Chang has figured out that she ordered the hit, where she pleads with Julian to kill Chang.

Crystal promises that after Julian eliminates Chang, they can go back home and she will be a true mother to him. Julian and his associate Charlie infiltrate Chang's home and plan to ambush him. After learning that Charlie was instructed to execute the entire family, Julian kills Charlie before he can kill Chang's daughter. Chang confronts Crystal in her hotel room, where she tells him about Julian's violent behaviour. Chang stabs Crystal in the throat. Later, Julian returns to the hotel and finds his mother's corpse, where he cuts open her abdomen and shoves his hand inside it. Julian later stands in a field with Chang, offering him his hands voluntarily so he can cut them off with the same weapon with which he killed Crystal. Later, Chang performs a song in a karaoke club filled with fellow police officers.

Cast[edit]

  • Ryan Gosling as Julian Thompson, an American who lives in Bangkok and "is a respected figure in the criminal underworld" according to a production synopsis.[14] Gosling was in negotiations to star in the film in June 2011 after Luke Evans dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.[15] Gosling had undertaken Muay Thai training in preparation for the role by that September,[16] which included 2–3 hour daily sessions.[17] Refn also participated in the training.[17] Gosling and Refn had recently worked together on the neo-noir action drama Drive (2011). Julian speaks only 17 lines throughout the film.[18] The idea for Julian to stick his hand into his dead mother's womb came from Gosling himself.[19]
  • Kristin Scott Thomas as Crystal Thompson, Julian's mother, who is described as "a merciless and terrifying mafia godmother" combining elements of Lady Macbeth and Donatella Versace.[14][20] Scott Thomas was cast by May 2011.[21]
  • Vithaya Pansringarm as Lieutenant Chang / "The Angel of Vengeance", a man that believes himself to be God "[i]n the sense that God in the Old Testament is saying 'I can be cruel, you have to fear me' as 'I can be kind, you have to love me.'"[22] Pansringarm did his own Thai boxing and singing for his role. Refn stated in an interview: "The character of One Eye went into Drive then went into the Thai police lieutenant. They're the same character played by three different actors [...] a mythological creature that has a mysterious past but cannot relate to reality because he's heightened and he's pure fetish."[23]
  • Gordon Brown as Gordon, Julian and Billy's lieutenant. Brown earlier played a walk-on role in Refn's Bronson and a supporting part in Valhalla Rising.
  • Rhatha Phongam (Yaya-Ying)[24] as Mai, a prostitute associated with Julian
  • Tom Burke[25] as Billy Thompson, Julian's older brother
  • Byron Gibson as Byron
  • Danai Thiengdham as Li Po
  • Sahajak Boonthanakit as Pol Col. Kim
  • Nophand Boonyai as Charlie
  • Teerawat Mulvilai as Ko Sam
  • Kovit Wattanakul as Choi Yan Lee
  • Wittchuta Watjanarat as Ma Fong

Production[edit]

Refn has said that "[f]rom the beginning, [he] had the idea of a thriller produced as a western, all in the Far East, and with a modern cowboy hero."[5] He originally planned to direct Only God Forgives directly after Valhalla Rising (2009), but he accepted Gosling's request to direct Drive instead.[26] Gosling has described the script of Only God Forgives as "the strangest thing I've ever read and it's only going to get stranger."[16] Like Drive, the film was largely shot chronologically and scenes were often edited the day they were shot.[5]

Footage was screened at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.[27] Refn drew a connection between Only God Forgives and Drive, saying that "[Only God Forgives] is very much a continuation of that language"—"[i]t's based on real emotions, but set in a heightened reality. It's a fairy tale."[26]

Reception[edit]

The film received a very divided response at its Cannes press screening; it was booed by many of the audience of journalists and critics while also receiving a standing ovation.[20][28] It received a polarized response from mainstream critics: review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 41% based on reviews from 163 critics, with a weighted average of 5.30/10. The site's consensus states: "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."[29] Metacritic assigns the film a weighted average rating of 37 out of 100 based on the reviews of 39 professional critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[30]

Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph reflected concerns over the film in a three out of five star review. "The film's characters are non-people; the things they say to each other are non-conversations, the events they enact are non-drama," he wrote. But he praised Refn for following up his commercially successful film Drive with "...this abstruse, neon-dunked nightmare that spits in the face of coherence and flicks at the earlobes of good taste".[31]

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave it five out of five stars, calling it gripping and praising the "pure formal brilliance" of every scene and frame, though he notes that it will "have people running for the exits, and running for the hills" with its extreme violence.[32] In an alternative review published in The Guardian, John Patterson was highly critical of the film, citing its lack of originality and the low degree of focus on plot: "Somewhere in here is a story that Refn can hardly be bothered to tell... I feel the ghosts of other movies—his influences, his inspirations—crowding in on his own work, suffocating him, and somehow leaving less of him on screen."[12]

Bill Gibron of PopMatters wrote "David Lynch must be laughing. If he had created something like Only God Forgives, substituting his own quirky casting for the rather staid choices made by actual director Nicolas Winding Refn, he would have walked away from Cannes 2013 with yet another Palme d'Or, another notch in his already sizeable artistic belt, and the kind of critical appreciation that only comes when a proven auteur once again establishes his creative credentials."[33]

Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave this film a positive review, giving it three and a half stars saying: "Refn's follow-up effort to the similarly polarizing Drive (which I thought was flat-out great) is even more stylized and daring. Drive star Ryan Gosling (who is clearly interested in carving out a career with at least as many bold, indie-type roles as commercial, leading-man fare) strikes a Brando pose playing Julian, a smoldering, seemingly lethal American who navigates the seediest sides of Bangkok."[34]

In 2015, the film was included in The Guardian's top 50 films of the decade so far.[35]

Awards[edit]

The film won the Grand Prize at the Sydney Film Festival.[36]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Only God Forgives at Box Office Mojo Retrieved 24 February 2018
  2. ^ "LUMIERE: FILM: ONLY GOD FORGIVES". Lumiere. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  3. ^ "ONLY GOD FORGIVES (18)". British Board of Film Classification. 28 June 2013. Archived from the original on 3 July 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  4. ^ a b Debruge, Peter (22 May 2013). "Only God Forgives". Variety. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  5. ^ a b c Jagernauth, Kevin (30 March 2012). "Nicolas Winding Refn Talks Making Only God Forgives & Considers Tokyo Setting For Horror I Walk with the Dead". The Playlist. IndieWire. Archived from the original on 23 June 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  6. ^ "Only God Forgives (2013)". The Numbers. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
  7. ^ a b "Q&A: Nicolas Winding Refn on Only God Forgives, Ryan Gosling & Midnight Movies". Esquire. 18 July 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2013. With Only God Forgives, out this weekend, Danish-born filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn reteams with Drive star Ryan Gosling for an even more unsettling, dream-like action film.
  8. ^ a b "Film – Only God Forgives". Gentleman's Journal. 26 July 2013. Another season, another action film starring Ryan Gosling. Only God Forgives is the latest film from director Nicolas Winding Refn, who is perhaps most famous for directing Gosling in Drive.
  9. ^ Buchanan, Jason. "Only God Forgives". AllMovie. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  10. ^ "Hard Drive". Bangkok Post. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
  11. ^ Lim, Dennis (22 May 2011). "Cannes Q. and A.: Driving in a Noir L.A." The New York Times. Archived from the original on 13 May 2013. Retrieved 31 August 2013.
  12. ^ a b Patterson, John (27 July 2013). "Only God Forgives this level of tedium". The Guardian. Kings Place. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
  13. ^ "2013 Official Selection". Cannes. 18 April 2013. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
  14. ^ a b Goldberg, Matt (2 November 2011). "First Synopsis for Nicolas Winding Refn's ONLY GOD FORGIVES Starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Ryan Gosling". Collider.com. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  15. ^ Fischer, Russ (23 June 2011). "Ryan Gosling Joining Nicolas Winding Refn's Only God Forgives [Updated]". /Film. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
  16. ^ a b Otto, Jeff (26 September 2011). "Ryan Gosling Calls Upcoming Project Only God Forgives The "Strangest Thing" He's Ever Read". The Playlist. IndieWire. Archived from the original on 31 October 2011. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
  17. ^ a b Mackey, Michael (27 January 2012). "Ryan Gosling Responds to Oscar Snub; Reveals Details of Project Filming in Bangkok". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  18. ^ Patches, Matt (22 May 2013). "Cannes: Ryan Gosling Only Has 17 Lines in the Bloody Only God Forgives". hollywood.com. Retrieved 31 August 2013.
  19. ^ Arbeiter, Michael (19 July 2013). "The Mysterious Bromance of Ryan Gosling and His Only God Forgives Director Nicolas Winding Refn". hollywood.com. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  20. ^ a b "Cannes jeers Gosling's film Only God Forgives". The Local. 22 May 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  21. ^ Fischer, Russ (2 May 2011). "Nicolas Winding Refn Casts Luke Evans and Kristin Scott-Thomas in Thai Western Only God Forgives". /Film. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  22. ^ Umstead, Ben (17 July 2013). "'Ask Not What Art Is, But What It Is Not': Nicolas Winding Refn And Cliff Martinez On ONLY GOD FORGIVES". Twitch. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
  23. ^ Barlow, Helen (18 July 2013). "Only God Forgives: Nicolas Winding Refn interview". sbs.com.au. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
  24. ^ Dang, Simon (11 May 2011). "Nicolas Winding Refn's Only God Forgives Adds Vithaya Pansringarm And Pop-Star Yaya Ying". The Playlist. IndieWire. Archived from the original on 30 December 2013. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
  25. ^ Labrecque, Jeff (1 March 2012). "Ryan Gosling's Thailand gangster film goes to Radius-TWC". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  26. ^ a b Sullivan, Kevin P. (15 June 2012). "Only God Forgives Will Share The 'Language' Of Drive". MTV. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  27. ^ Sullivan, Kevin P. (25 May 2012). "Ryan Gosling's Only God Forgives Debuts Footage at Cannes". MTV. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  28. ^ "Ryan Gosling film Only God Forgives divides Cannes critics". BBC News. 23 May 2013. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  29. ^ "Only God Forgives (2013)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  30. ^ "Only God Forgives Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  31. ^ Collin, Robbie (22 May 2013). "Cannes 2013: Only God Forgives, review". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 24 May 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  32. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (22 May 2013). "Cannes 2013: Only God Forgives – first look review". The Guardian. Kings Place. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  33. ^ Gibron, Bill (19 July 2013). "Only God Forgives, Not this Fascinating Film's Director". PopMatters. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  34. ^ Roeper, Richard (18 July 2013). "Every bloody moment demands attention in Only God Forgives". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
  35. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (5 January 2015). "Peter Bradshaw's top 50 films of the demi-decade". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  36. ^ Bulbeck, Pip (18 June 2013). "Ryan Gosling Starrer Only God Forgives Wins Sydney Film Prize". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 15 July 2013.

External links[edit]

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