The Neon Demon

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Sometimes you need a little bit more than beautiful visuals. The film does indeed look great, with a superb soundtrack as well. The lighting and use of colour is very NWR. The opening scenes are good but It never really gets going. Its a very slow burn. With a lead character who barely raises a smile, has zero personality, zero charisma but apparently she has it all. She displays no emotion at all. She basically walks around pouting and asking stupid dumb questions like is this your house? Erh, you dim wit, I'm in my 20's, this is mansion worth millions! I was at the London Q&A tonight. There was so much I wanted to say but I bottled it. NWR is a pompous man, who I quote said 'All men want to be a 16 year old girl' Erh, do they? He's full of shite, the fashion world suits him fine Thats 3 crap films this year from 3 of my fav directors. Love, Knight of Cups & now this. Not 6+ for any of them This should have been used for a music video and not a feature film. Its not interesting enough and there's not enough emotion.

I can understand the harsh reviews, this movie isn't for everyone but it's such a GORGEOUS movie, every shot is so aesthetically pleasing and i like it so much, the story and the acting were fine too it's disturbing yes but absolutely not a waste of time

I have no one to blame but myself for wasting two hours of my life after I found out this was directed by the slowest, style-over-substance and shitty Nicolas Winding Refn. His kind of movies move at a snail's pace and it's no wonder since there are about 2 pages of actual story in his "screenplays." I understand he's one of those love him/hate him kinds of "filmmakers," like Terrence Malick and I definitely fall in the latter half…for both. I don't mind a slow-burner so much, as long as there's something behind the scenes. Something to build upon, some sense of reality, someone to root for. Here we have incredibly terrible people – all of them, doing incredibly blasphemous stuff for, I'm guessing, the sake of art? Get ready for it (and yeah, this is spoiler-territory, but I have a feeling you'll thank me instead of criticizing me): here, in the meek "script," you'll be served up necrophilia, cannibalism and an unhealthy amount of pedophilia. A pretty girl – not gorgeous, not a supermodel and not goddess-like as they constantly tell us, is getting her immediate break in the L.A. fashion industry. Others are jealous. She seems innocent, but lives up to the movie's title. Oh, and she's 16, but that's okay for all the adults wanting to seduce, kiss, see her naked and make love to her. Really, that, plus a bunch of random artistic and nail-biting deliberate scenes make up the rest of the incredible two-hour run time. What makes a Nicolas Winding Refn "experience" so frustrating, is that it's so pompous. It's like being in an art gallery and telling your friend you don't like the train wreck painting you're trying to look away from. Immediately, your friend's clichéd response is "Well, you just don't get it! It's aaaaarrrrrrt!" Well, I do get it. I got the whole movie. It just felt as hollow as the characters they're portraying. And funny enough, it's labelled as a "horror." Not really. I mean, horrible stuff happens, but it's like watching the downward spiral of the U.S. thanks to the political season we're currently in and calling that "horror" as well. OK, fine. It did remind me a bit of Suspiria in mood and ugly women doing bad things, but without witchcraft. Oh, and sure, you might find them attractive here, but they are so wooden, one-dimensional and horrible individuals, they are absolutely ugly to me. Not to mention, they all look so similar, it was increasingly hard to tell who was who, including our "heroine." I imagine if you liked his other slow-ass films, you'd be one of those "But, it's aaaaarrrrrrt!" people and like this. Fine. To each their own. I just appreciate cinema that's not just a 2-hour screensaver. *** Final thoughts: Drive wasn't terrible, but Only God Forgives and this crap was. I just can't take anymore NWR. Mercifully, this one didn't star NWR (I'm tired of writing his self-important name out) regular and highly arrogant partner, Ryan Gosling. Definitely no room in here for him, but I doubt even he and his big head could save this travesty.

I went to a screening of 'The Neon Demon' in my town this afternoon. I should start by saying that it was a particularly fun screening since I was alone in the room and it kind of helped with the atmosphere of the movie. 'The Neon Demon' is the new feature film by NWR (as it was stylized in the opening title). I was a big fan of 'Drive' and I also enjoyed 'Only God Forgives' even though most people didn't like. I knew going in that the movie didn't receive the praise of 'Drive' so I was expecting something like 'Only God Forgives' and it's pretty much what I got. Elle Fanning plays a young (underage) model trying to make it big in the city of angels. The opening scene will dive you right into this world with great cinematography and a very cool song. I actually thought that the visuals, the acting and the soundtrack were by far the best aspects of this movie. This is a pretty dark movie, but I actually found myself laughing a couple of times. Keanu Reeves' supporting character has a couple of good lines and the movie itself also has an interesting commentary about the world of fashion... even though it's delivered in a radically surreal way. Saying that the visuals are great is an understatement: the art design is impressive, the lighting is perfect in multiples scenes and the colour palette is really "in your face". There are two 'mind- trip' scenes in the movie that are worth the price of admission alone. I had a couple of issues with the character development of our main character (Fanning) in the script. I hate when art films immediately gets stamped 'style over substance', and I don't think it was the case here neither. However, I don't think NWR did a good job at portraying her evolution through the movie. Without getting into spoilers, Jesse (Fanning) is initially portrayed as being timid and insecure. At some point in the film her character experiences a sudden shift in personality that I didn't exactly bought. Even though you might think the movie is a bit long at times, stick to it until the end, the final act is pretty crazy and rewarding. Jena Malone's performance was amazing to say the least, she went totally wild in this film. All things together I liked 'The Neon Demon' even though I had a couple of issues here and there. It's a cool "horror" movie with a very twisted and subtle sense of humour. Maybe not the perfect date movie, but it's definitely worth a watch! 7.5/10

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.

An absolutely stunningly pretty movie, with no substance. Each shot is poised for elegance and beauty, each interaction with the main character is tense and feels ominous, with a very steady build up ultimately leading to nothing unfortunately. The ending is dissatisfying, given the build up, although it is expected through out the movie as it doesn't really feel like its trying to go anywhere in particular. Sometimes its aiming for psychological thriller, other times horror, other times pure drama. The main characters transformation is strong but doesn't really feel like horror. Missed the mark, but every second is perfect for a cool desktop background