Disc Reviews

Only God Forgives Blu-ray Review

71VxKENB+ML._SL1190_With a title a spaghetti western would be proud of and an arthouse look as though it were shot by Wong Kar Wai, this neat little Tarantino style revenge thriller comes on the back of Nicolas Winding Refn’s already cult classic thriller Drive (2011) also starring Ryan Gosling. Incredibly violent its place as a cult classic is already assured.

 

The film opens at a Muay Thai boxing match in which we first see two American expats living in Bangkok watching the event. These are two brothers, Julian (Gosling) and Billy Thompson who run a Muay Thai gym. After the event older brother Billy goes onto the streets of Bangkok in search of a prostitute, looking for an underage girl it would seem. He eventually takes a young girl up to a fleabag hotel where he brutally murders her. The police arrive later and find Billy standing over the body and bring with them the father of the dead girl. Police lieutenant Chang (played by Thai actor Vithaya Pasringarm) gives the father free reign to do what he wants with the killer and proceeds to beat him to death off camera. The policeman then produces a dha sword and cuts the man’s arm off for forcing his daughter into prostitution and then lets him go. Julian and Billy’s mother arrives in Thailand from the US and is furious at Julian for not killing his brother’s killer because he felt his brother deserved it. Here we get a clear indication that the mother (played with verve by an older looking Kristin Scott Thomas) is not a woman to be trifled with. It doesn’t take long before we know that this is a deeply dysfunctional family with a foul mouthed mother who is the clear matriarch of the family. Julian is then torn between what is morally right while still craving the affection of his mother, who is not past telling him that his brother had a much bigger schlong than he – more dysfunction and an eyebrow raiser to some deep Oedipal complex (the mother also blames him for the death of his father, also a gangster we assume). When he goes to a restaurant with his escort girlfriend both are humiliated by the woman. Meanwhile Lieutenant Chong enacts further revenge on all parties who stand in his way, acting as judge, jury and executioner.

 

Like Quentin Tarantino before him we can’t help feel that this new kid on the block is having a cheeky wink at the audience at some of the more heinous scenes, very much in the same manner as Tarantino. Never the less his films are engaging and good fun for those who like a little cult art house violence. Gosling plays his part deadpan; we know there is something going on behind the eyes, but he is so much under the thumb of his mother. His final confrontation with his mother is to be seen to be believed. What particularly stands out, plot and violence aside is the garish palette he uses with cinematographer Larry Smith; even the take away kitchens have a sickly green glow to them. The glaring neon of the mostly night time Bangkok streets and brothels, played off against some stylized deco wallpaper play like, in Refn’s own words an acid trip. This fuses image and violence perfectly together creating a stylized un-real glow to the scene. Despite the very minimal dialogue the film is not without humour. When Julian brings his escort girlfriend to dinner and says to her “I would like you to meet my mother” we already have enough knowledge to know that this is not going to go well. What we can expect in the future is more in the way of this kind of film from Refn, a clear no pretender to Tarantino, although as yet he does not seem to be seeking the big massive success of Tarantino.

 

Chris Hick

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