Only God Forgives

Directed by Nicholas Winding Refn. Starring Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas, Vithaya Pansringarm. 90 mins

Only God Forgives is the beautiful, bloody and brain-battering lovechild of Drive director Nicholas Winding Refn. It has all the elements of another near-masterpiece. A revenge melodrama set in the seedy underworld of Bangkok, it cuts straight into the heart of human darkness, where the only things that glimmer are treacherous blades, sticky red lights and oozing blood.
Alas, the film also slips into self-parody with Refn viewing all the world as a violent catwalk. With its threadbare plot, it feels more like an arty performance piece than conventional movie.
Drive star Ryan Gosling plays another silent anti-hero, this time under pressure to avenge his killer rapist brother (Tom Burke.) As he watches prostitutes masturbate in airless hotel rooms and wanders dream-like through endless Kubrick-esque corridors he’s a man touched only by pain.
It’s unclear what will be the end of him. A twisted, samurai sword-wielding police officer? The sharp tongue of his Oedipal-complex-by-numbers-mother (Kristen Scott Thomas)? Or merely the soulless tedium, with which the audience can emphastise?
Refn is a master of beautifully framed shots and pulsating scores, but this film shows no sign of emotion or even a desire to entertain.