The Neon Demon

Having seen previous films by Nicolas Winding Refn and consider Drive to be a masterpiece, had little expectations for this film. There is certainly some influences within Drive in the Neon Demon but this film is closer to Only God Forgives in terms of quality.

Now his films are certain art house pieces and we can see as to why many people would dislike this film. It is most certainly for an acquired taste and not for everyone.

As the film, well done visuals and the camera angles and set pieces are nice to look at but after a while the story line becomes predictable and cliche. There are some intrigue at first then suddenly flares off a little. There are certainly several bizarre and more disturbing scenes towards the end which stand out.

This film isn't perfect, yet isn't completely awful. It is a step up from OGF but not on the level of Drive.

The brilliant Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn has already offered us the sumptuous Drive (2011) as well as interesting movies like Valhalla Rising (2009), Bronson (2008) or Bleeder (1999). In The Neon Demon (2016), Nicolas Winding Refn locks himself in a world dominated with an always ultra-neat and globally irreproachable aesthetics and characters who are deliberately cold and devoid of empathy. After the first 20/30 minutes, we understood the message and the film would have benefited from being a short film. Que nenni! The film languishes and barely conveys emotion, with a few surrealistic and bloody scenes. Thus, the last third of the film is a show as gore as annoying. As a synthesis: visually amazing but desperately boring.

There appear to be some who think this is a movie about the fashion industry. If so, it has about as much to say about fashion as "Suspira" has to say about ballet. Really, this film is about obsession, loneliness, fear and the crippling tension of being on constant guard against the attack of predators. Alone and vulnerable in Los Angeles, Jesse (Elle Fanning) is a skittish prey animal surrounded by the dangers of the urban jungle. As she navigates the threats around her, she transforms into a kind of predator herself. But she will soon discover that not all killers hunt alone.

It was a colorful, but brutal story of a woman who wants to be a model and stage actress, but is constantly bullied by three women who are jealous of her beauty and wish to be her by any means necessary. I would've liked it more it the final 20 minutes wasn't so nasty. It was a gruesome finale, but it was mostly suspenseful and entertaining.

The Neon Demon (2016)

*** (out of 4)

Sixteen-year-old Jesse (Elle Fanning) arrives in Hollywood with big dreams of becoming a famous model but soon she realizes there is always a price to pay.

In my opinion Nicolas Winding Refn's DRIVE was one of the best movies from the past couple decades and he followed that up with the so-great-it's-awful or so-awful-it's-great ONLY GOD FORGIVES. As strange as that film was there's really nothing that can prepare you for THE NEON DEMON. I'm not going to spend too much time on the plot but lets just say that the less you know the better. In fact, revealing too much plot would ruin some fairly bizarre twists so be sure you don't read too much detail.

As far as the film goes, it's visually a masterpiece and technically it's one of the greatest films from recent memory. The film certainly has a very European feel to it and it appears that the director was inspired by various Italian filmmakers including Dario Argento and Mario Bava. I can't help but think that SUSPIRIA was a major influence and especially the visual look of the film as well as how the music plays in the madness. The cinematography here is among the best that you'll see in any movie and there's no doubt that the director knows how to make something surreal and bizarre.

The story itself is one we've seen countless times before. We learn that Hollywood is evil. Women are sadistic on each other and especially their looks. Men are perverted creeps. The film will probably "say" something different to everyone who watches it but I do think there were some major plus. One being that the film takes way too long to get to where it's going. I thought the build up to the final act dragged on a tad bit too long and I think a shorter film probably would have really helped the psychological aspect of the film.

One of the greatest things about the movie was the performance of Fanning. I was really shocked at how wonderful she was in the film because she's basically playing a naive and innocent girl who finds herself in a world she's just not ready for. The way Fanning showed off her innocence was really something remarkable and her transformation works extremely well and it's very believable. Christina Hendricks, Jena Malone, Bella Heathcote and Karl Glusman are all extremely good as well. Both Abbey Lee and Keanu Reeves are also very good in their supporting roles.

Again, I'm not going to spoil anything but the entire film is downright strange and surreal but the final act takes a turn that will have most people leaving the theater, if they're still even there. This certainly isn't going to be a film for everyone and like the director's previous movies it's easy to see how people would walk out very early on. Those who don't mind challenging movies will certainly find a lot of great things here but I only wish it had been a little bit tighter.