Only God Forgives

[GeneChing]

Sort of a sideways way to find out about a new flick. MMA in Thailand, eh? :rolleyes:

Ryan Gosling is choosing mixed martial arts over the Golden Globes (http://thecelebritycafe.com/feature/ryan-gosling-choosing-mixed-martial-arts-over-golden-globes-01-15-2012)
1/15/2012
April Chieffo

Ryan Gosling will be a no-show at this year’s Golden Globes.

The actor was all over movie screens this past year in such films as Drive, Crazy, Stupid, Love, and The Ides of March. He is a double nominee at this year’s awards for his roles in Crazy, Stupid, Love and The Ides of March, but will skip the Ricky Gervais-hosted ceremony in favor of one of his latest film projects, which has him out of the country.

"He's working out of the country,” Gosling’s rep confirmed to People.

According to the report, Gosling is skipping out on the ceremony to film another movie directed by Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn called Only God Forgives, a mixed martial arts movie that is set in Bangkok.

Although Gosling will be a no-show, ladies have plenty of other actors to swoon over their televisions about. George Clooney and Brad Pitt, who are both presenters as well as nominees, Jake Gyllenhaal, and the reigning Sexiest Man Alive, Bradley Cooper, will all appear at the awards.

[doug maverick]

young hercules rides again..lol its with the same director as drive...so im hoping for some gritty badassery.

[doug maverick]

i could have sworn we had a thread for this. or maybe we talked about it in another thread.

anyway the movie is by the same director as drive, starring ryan gosling. the trailer is amazing..so amazing that it made me for the first time ever want to read the script and i did.. and if even half the things that were in the script make it to screen this is going to be one hell of a movie. ryna gosling learned muay thai for five months for this role. but then he and the director decided they didnt want it to be like a van dam movie so they through it all out. the script floored me it was so well written.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bVvpreSkR4U

[sanjuro_ronin]

Hmmm....we shall see...

[GeneChing]

Looks amusing. However, I must add that grabbing someone by the roof of their mouth like that is a good way to get your fingers bitten off. :rolleyes:

[doug maverick]

ha we did and i was the last person to comment which means i was just being lazy..lol the script was phenomenal and for a 4million dollar movie to get a summer release the movie had to be pretty **** good.

[GeneChing]

Reviews are poor mostly.

‘Only God’ has little action for martial arts movie (http://missoulian.com/entertainment/movies/only-god-has-little-action-for-martial-arts-movie/article_a72de470-f07e-11e2-bf73-001a4bcf887a.html)

http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/missoulian.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/f0/df0b3834-f07e-11e2-89cb-001a4bcf887a/51e94c3857219.preview-620.jpg
Crystal, Kristin Scott Thomas, left, plays Julian’s, Ryan Gosling, venomous mother in “Only God Forgives.”

9 hours ago • By Rene Rodriguez - Miami Herald
(0) Comments
‘ONLY GOD FORGIVES’
★★★ 1/2
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas, Vithaya Pansringarm, Tom Burke.
Writer-director: Nicolas Winding Refn.
Run time: 89 minutes.
Rating: R for vulgar language, sexual situations, nudity, extreme violence, gore, adult themes.

Julian (Ryan Gosling), the protagonist of “Only God Forgives,” runs a boxing club in Bangkok and drifts through the city like a ghost, relying on prostitutes and strippers for sexual release. The only constant presence in his life is his brother Billy (Tom Burke), who seems just as damaged and estranged. Then something happens that requires their domineering mother, Crystal (Kristin Scott Thomas), to fly in from the United States and help clean up the mess. Lurking in the background is an unusually astute cop (Vithaya Pansringarm) who wields a sword instead of a gun. He wields it often.

In his follow-up to 2011’s “Drive,” writer-director Nicolas Winding Refn whittles down the plot and amps up the mood and atmosphere to hypnotic, engrossing effect. Filmed in sumptuous colors by cinematographer Larry Smith, a Kubrick disciple who also shot “Eyes Wide Shut,” the movie makes creative use of its foreign setting – the glittering elegance of upscale restaurants, the neon-lit seediness and grime of brothels and alleyways, the smooth surfaces and clean lines of a five-star hotel. Refn’s style and aesthetic become part of the narrative, which is simple enough to encapsulate in one sentence. But the story is given dimension and heft by the elliptical way in which it unfolds. Refn dares to give the genre respect and gravity – this is, at heart, a straightforward tale of revenge – and he injects a strong Oedipal subtext into the film, hinting at the reasons why Julian is unable to resist his mother’s orders and silently suffers her brusque insults.

The seriousness with which Refn treats “Only God Forgives” has led to much critical ridicule. But mocking the improbable characters and bizarre juxtapositions is too literal and superficial a reading of this dreamy, entrancing movie. Refn knows exactly what he’s doing – he’s in on the joke – and he revels in the sensory pleasures of film as an art form (the score by Cliff Martinez, who also did “Drive,” is practically a character here). There are moments in “Only God Forgives” when you feel an inexplicable urge to laugh, and there are moments, too, when you recoil from the horrors on the screen. In one scene, Gosling drags a man down a hall, pulling him by his upper jaw. In another, the policeman uses sharpened chopsticks to torture a man in ways you wish you could unsee.

Taking a cue from their director, the actors take huge chances. Gosling internalizes his character’s emotional tumult, allowing us to feel the severely scarred psyche churning beneath his still exterior. In “Drive,” he played a loner who tried to avoid any emotional connection with the world. Here, he plays a man who yearns to form a bond but doesn’t know how. Thomas takes the opposite approach, playing Julian’s venomous mother with an operatic relish (the actress makes poetry out of her character’s astonishingly crude dialogue). As the see-all detective, Pansringarm exudes a samurai vibe – an indefatigable warrior willing to wade into the murkiest of waters.

“Only God Forgives” has been marketed as a martial arts picture – the trailers include a shot of Gosling asking someone “Wanna fight?” – but the movie contains little in terms of traditional action, and Refn never uses it in a rousing or exciting manner, either. That would break the nightmarish spell this strange, beautiful film casts on the viewer. A mother’s love has never been this ruinous.



Only God Forgives' divides film community (http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2013/07/17/only-god-forgives-buzz/2519787/)
Scott Bowles, USA TODAY 8:41 p.m. EDT July 17, 2013
Ryan Gosling's latest film is splitting critics and audiences who are divided over its graphic violence.

LOS ANGELES — Few films had as many people talking at this year's Cannes Film Festival as Only God Forgives, the latest crime drama from Ryan Gosling and director Nicolas Winding Refn, who teamed up for the violent 2011 hit Drive.

This time, though, the talk was even more divided. At its Cannes premiere in May, some moviegoers booed, some walked out and some stood clapping at film's end. The graphically violent story about a drug dealer (Gosling) avenging his brother's death opens Friday in select cities and on video on demand amid some of the most mixed and vitriolic reviews of the year.

Analysts wonder whether, in a social media landscape where word-of-mouth spreads immediately, any publicity remains good publicity.

Scores of bloggers and reviewers have done their best to dissuade moviegoers from seeing the R-rated movie, which includes scenes of arms, legs, hearts and eyes being sliced.

"Refn, (screw) you and the whole Asian action-porn attitude you rode in on," rails film critic Jeffrey Wells on the website hollywood-elsewhere.com. "I was repelled by this film in ways I didn't know I could be repelled."

Sasha Stone of trade site thewrap.com writes that what Forgives "amounts to, in the end, is the careful work of a serial killer. Refn isn't literally killing women, but he's indulging in one bloody killing after another, and practically licking the knife afterwards."

Yet Forgives won best-film honors at the Sydney Film Festival in June and has won over exactly half of the USA's critics, according to rottentomatoes.com. "Winding Refn's brash defiance in the face of expectation and conservatism is to be applauded," writes Ed Gibbs of the Sydney Morning Herald.

Tom Quinn and Jason Janego, co-presidents of distributing studio Radius-TWC, welcome the nastier sides of the debate. "So many films are milquetoast," Janego says. "We're fortunate to work on films people want to talk about."

But who will listen? Analysts say the film's performance at the box office could depend on whose word is credible on the Internet.

"The Internet has become the equivalent of a Boston bar at 2 a.m.," says Michael Levine, author of Guerrilla P.R. "You don't know who to trust, and you're not going to remember most of what was said."

Levine says that some films are review-proof — "Just look at Grown Ups 2," he says of the critically-eviscerated Adam Sandler comedy that justopened to $42 million. But Forgives is "one of those films that rely on word-of-mouth and water-cooler talk." Increasingly, he says, that water cooler has been a computer screen, and the talk a lot harsher.

"One of the things that social media has proved is there are a lot of sad, lonely people in the world, with a lot of mean things to say," he says. He suggests that small, art-house films such as Forgives may need to be selective in who attends screenings to keep discourse restrained. "Sometimes you're just bringing negative awareness to your brand."

Scott Mantz, film critic for Access Hollywood, says that reaction to Forgives has been so extreme that even the negative reviews could help viewership.

"When people react that strongly, and it has an actor people are interested in, it creates more interest," he says. "People will say, 'If it's that bad, or that controversial, I have to go check it out.' "

But the danger of the digital water cooler, he says, is that word spreads in milliseconds.

"Social media has changed the scope of criticism, what people are talking about and who people are listening to," he says. "But the bottom line is this: If audiences don't like it, it's going to die quicker than ever, regardless of what critics are saying."

[doug maverick]

ive slightly changed this from what i wrote on fb, to add some stuff about the martial arts.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/1069366_10151792759904085_1961888532_n.jpg

ok went to see only god forgives earlier this afternoon and spent the day thinking about it...its an art movie thats for sure. every scene feels independant of the last scene, whether thats good or not depends on who is watching it, for me i like a sense of flow to a story so it just didnt work for me in that context, every shot and i do mean every shot was beautifully composed, it was like looking at photographs from any top tier photographer.https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/64066_10151792760154085_1362434992_n.jpg the films failing was in the fact that many times you had to read between the lines to find out what the hell was going on or why a character was doing something, for a 90 minute movie it felt slow and thats probably because all the characters quite literally seemed to be moving in slow motion, i must admit that the script was better then the movie, although this wasnt that bad, it could have been much better thou, the acting was superb everyone played their role well the scene stealer was kristen scott thomas but you knew she was going to be from the trailers..

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/1002541_10151792759909085_775821473_n.jpg

i put this movie in the same catagory as the american, beautifully shot but ultimately failing in its lack of connection, you feel as disconnected from the movie as ryan goslings character feels from the world around him and maybe THAT WAS THE POINT..the martial arts was short but sweet, very well constructed and shot you can actually see whats happening, its def a must see and seeing a film as beautiful as this def has its appeal.https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/13261_10151792760149085_1327102968_n.jpg but yeah arthouse film as arthouse films should be done. i give it a solid 6.


https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/1069287_10151792759914085_109031413_n.jpg

[Vash]

Good to read a review from someone who knows & loves movies, and good ones at that.

I tend to think the opposite of what 'critics' say about movies - every review I've ever read or heard (with the exception of The Critic -- "It Stinks!") was less about 'this movie was good/bad because XYZ' and more 'I Went to Film School and Saw an Obscure French Movie You've Probably Never Heard Of.'

Will see this, based mostly on my enjoyment of Drive.

[doug maverick]

Good to read a review from someone who knows & loves movies, and good ones at that.

I tend to think the opposite of what 'critics' say about movies - every review I've ever read or heard (with the exception of The Critic -- "It Stinks!") was less about 'this movie was good/bad because XYZ' and more 'I Went to Film School and Saw an Obscure French Movie You've Probably Never Heard Of.'

Will see this, based mostly on my enjoyment of Drive.

its much different from drive. i read the original script and alot of it was sacrificed, this movie maybe has 25 pages(minutes) of diolgue the rest is visual.

[Hebrew Hammer]

This film exceeded my expectations!!! Visually stunning, such intensity!! This film oozed pressure, emotional strain, and discord throughout...the directors uses of color, cinematography, lighting, and music score put this film over the top. It was a journey into Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, with a splash of Mommy Dearest! If you enjoyed the Colonel Kurtz scene in Apocalypse now, No Country for Old Men, Eyes Wide Shut or even Psycho...you will love this film.

It is shocking and violent, these are bad people and so much of the story was spoken without dialogue. Effing amazing. The Thai Police Captain was Asia's version of Dirty Hairy...I haven't seen such a strong vengeful character in quite some time. Kristin Scott Thomas's performance was also creme de la creme. I will watch this again. This is no chick flick and leave your kids at home but check it out. HH approved!

10 Bawangs out of 10

[Blacktiger]

Loved this movie!!

[GeneChing]

It's Thai schlock trying to be artsy and existential. Ryan Gosling in the lead but Keanu would have been better. Lots of slow brooding scenes with a character in center frame of a background with outrageous lighting/wallpaper/color scheme. Lots of harsh neon lights, tropical paint schemes, the sleezey side of Bangkok. There are some red herring hallucinatory scenes and a lot of it takes place in a brothel, but there's very little nudity. It tries to be foreboding and disturbing ala David Lynch with its color use, malevolent electronic music and stoic figures, but just winds up being boring. There's way too much kareoke...way to much. Way, way too much. There's a bad cop who pulls a krabi (Thai sword) from his butt with a dramatic 'shing!' sound and does some serious ultravi hacking, and one slightly amusing Muay Thai fight, but not worth sitting through this.