Intro
I have watched a lot of garbage and at the same time I have watched a lot of good garbage. So I know what "real" garbage looks like when I see it. It's usually a film that delivers nothing of substance whatsoever and fails to entertain. I believe there are a lot films that get thrown out of the critic bandwagon because they don't please the general consumer audience. If a movie entertains the four quadrants then it is generally regarded as a "good" film in the critic's circuit. If a film doesn't hit the four quadrants...such as Only God Forgives then the majority of critics will regard it as garbage. Critics are now trained to praise films that function like a popular television show. Coincidently we are in the television series age. The most popular consumer is one who does not want to think for themselves but rather to be entertained by old morals and fabrics. If the popular consumer is left in confusion, then that is a bad product. This means that the "salesmen" also known as the critic cannot recommend a product that people don't understand. For this reason I have started my new series of writing called Underrated Films. This first film I will write about is the before mentioned Only God Forgives. I couldn't ask for a more perfect example of a greatly underrated film that speaks multiple languages and thoughts.
What is Art House?
It's hard to say actually. In the most common sense there really is no true definition other than a film that drives towards an artistic value rather than a commercial one. The definition cannot get more simple than that. In Only God Forgives there is no "one" meaning to it but instead multiple meanings. This is the clear cut reason why the film is a quintessential art house experience. The plot speaks in different ways leaving very many interpretations. When describing why the movie is not pretentious to so many literal thinkers I compared it to a Jackson Pollack painting only much more practical. My example is "you don't go to a Jackson Pollock painting and try to explain the precise meaning of it." Art is much more subtle than that. If art is the study of aesthetics or beauty then it is a very subtle field. For example it is hard to say why you enjoy certain facial features over others. There is not much room for logic when you discuss the beauty of imagery. Only God Forgives uses very little dialogue and rides strongly on the perfection of every shot composed in it's ninety minute time frame. However, every scene is meaningful. For any film can be pretty to look at, but without substance to the imagery it becomes less artistic.
It is a Philosophical Film
The hands play a big part in the central theme of the story. It has to do with God and forgiveness if that wasn't already given away by its title. I argue that it also has as much to do with humanity and forgiveness as well. The central character is tormented by the sins he committed with his own hands. Therefore he looks for punishment from an authoritative figure or in some interpretations "god" to forgive himself. This is the central theme throughout. There is also the unwillingness to forgive by all humans and even the most authoritative figures have malice in their heart. We see those who do wrong have others do wrong to them and that is the eternal cycle that cannot be broken in life. The mother's sins over her sons, the son sins over his father and so on and so forth. Humanities biggest challenge is not to restrain from sinning but to actually forgive. Personal forgiveness is so difficult that societies appoints authority figures to punish for us. Our civilizations have constructed systems built around punishing since we have the inability to forgive. In this the title Only God Forgives is brilliant.
It is Also About Our Expectations
When I watched Only God Forgives in the cinema I caught myself too many times having to put my western and hollywood bias in check. In Drive Ryan Gosling did everything we would not only expect a hero to do, but what we actually desire him to do; get vengeance and kill the sleazy bad guys. The consumer always wants to know what to expect, they go to a McDonald's to eat a big mac because they know what it will taste like. Drive delivers what we expect from hollywood but in a more patient artistic manner. The average consumer likes a happy ending, although the ending of Drive could be left to interpretation it is fair to assume that the "good guy" won and killed the bad guys. That is the hollywood formula we know very well. Our expectations for Only God Forgives are shattered almost completely. We want to see a movie-star like Gosling kill bad guys, but instead we got a film about humans rather than characters. In Only God Forgives we are all sinners and there is no real clear cut good guys or bad guys. Instead of watching the white blonde movie-star punish the sinners we get an aging uncharismatic thai man, hence completely contrary to our expectations. This unsettled me at first but then I realized the story was about much more than revenge. Lastly there is an underlying message about how easterners might view the westerner. The white characters in here are quite villainous throughout the movie and the presumed arch-villain dresses like Miami trash. As comical as it sounds; it is a brilliant switch of roles that an American audience would not be used to. The westerners are the villains with the ugly culture of monopolizing and are bloodthirsty for revenge no matter the reasoning. As an American viewer myself I found this change-up quite clever. It is clear at least to me that the director Nicolas Winding Refn set out to make this piece with very rebellious tendencies.
Last Word
Other than the countless meanings, undertones and metaphors that make for a profoundly interesting film; the production is marvelous. The cinematography is gorgeous as Larry Smith continues to play with colors in the most effective of ways. The soundtrack by Cliff Martinez is ground-breaking and climaxes in one of the most anti-climatic scenes I've ever seen in cinema. This experience was by far the best time I had in the movie theatre all summer. If you like to follow the political status quo of movie making or like to be spoon-fed what to think then Only God Forgives is not for you. If you want to have the freedom of interpretation and think your own thoughts upon brilliantly laid frames then I certainly recommend this movie.
