The Neon Demon

Dir: Nicolas Winding Refn

2016

*****

Nicolas Winding Refn's The Neon Demon split audiences right down the middle. During its screening at the Cannes Film Festival half the crowd booed while the other half gave it a standing ovation, which was much the same response with Refn's 2013 Only God Forgives. The truth is Nicolas Winding Refn has never made a bad film, quite the opposite in fact and it can be said of all of the films that we consider classics today, throughout the history of cinema, have divided opinion and still do. Nicolas Winding Refn is the new Stanley Kubrick, although he isn't exactly a new director and he very much has his own style. He is the Kubrick in that people don't understand or rate his films now but mark my words they will do in years to come. I think when a film splits audience opinion in half as much as The Neon Demon has you can't help but take notice. If absolutely everyone likes your film it can be just as bad as when everybody hates it. I think if you strive to really say something of substance in your film but you don't ruffle any feathers as you do then you have done something very wrong along the way. I'm not sure 'enjoy' is the word Refn is looking for here anyway. The subject matter in The Neon Demon is an uncomfortable one, so feeling warm and fuzzy isn't the desired response. The film's simplicity has been criticized by many but I think they are overlooking the point, in my opinion, it is the film's simplicity that makes it so effective. The way the film uncovers the horror behind the world of modelling but without losing the glossy feel of a fashion magazine is gloriously troublesome that rings true amidst the neon fantasy. I would worry about a person who wasn't troubled or indeed were not disgusted by it to be honest. It really is a film that needs to be experienced, the one thing I dislike about Nicolas Winding Refn's films is his use of sound and the way the film will get excruciatingly loud following a long stretch of silence although again, this is a purposeful and effective trick to grab the audience’s attention and a way of poking them with a giant stick and forcibly opening the audiences eyes like Alex in A Clockwork Orange, A Clockwork Orange being quite suitable comparison. I fear that films like this and directors like Refn are becoming more and more overlooked in a medium that is becoming more and more clogged with sequels, prequels and same old same olds. Audiences are not being challenged enough, old ideas are being reused and overused and current social norms are not being challenged enough. The Neon Demon challenges, provokes and does so in a sophisticated and rather sleek fashion. It oozes style which only intensifies its subtle attack on our cultural obsession with beauty and shows us just how ugly it really is. It is visually stunning and has the depth and tenacity to back itself up with, no question about it as far as I'm concerned, it's a modern masterpiece and a future classic.