The Neon Demon is Dutch director's Nicolas Winding Refn's new creation and as all his films, this too is completely unique and honestly not for everybody.
Refn's previous works have not been similarly received by critics and audiences alike, with 2011's Drive being praised for its excellent direction and magical alternation between long silences and sudden loud scenes and 2013's Only God Forgives getting just a 37/100 Metacritic score as well as only 41% on Rotten Tomatoes (and 37% for audiences). So, as you can understand, when you are about to see a Refn film you have to be prepared both for a masterpiece and for something that might leave a bad taste in your mouth. The Neon Demon was the second case.
This is the story of Jesse (Elle Fanning) a sixteen-year-old girl who moves to L.A. and wants to become a model. Her good looks and nice personality help her to quickly rise in this difficult and rather competitive world of modelling. It also makes her a target for people who might want to help her and those who might want to hurt her out of jealousy for her success. Jesse lives in a motel owned by a rather hostile Keanu Reeves [The Matrix (1999)] and the first person she actually meets is Ruby (the always intriguing Jena Malone [The Hunger Games:Catching Fire (2013), Sucker Punch (2011), Donnie Darko (2001)], a make-up artist who is the only friendly person in a big city of hypocrisy and competitiveness. Soon, Jesse finds out exactly that. L.A. is not a place to make friends. Every single person could help you to get something out of it, or in the worst case they could try to step on you and hurt you in order to make it in your place.
And this all may sound interesting but Refn narrates it in such a unhurried way that can alienate even the most dedicated film lover. The movie begins with a slow prophetic and rather unnerving zoom-out of Jessie posing for a photograph, lying on a couch, blood streaming from her neck. From a directing point of view, the film can be considered a masterpiece, with amazing Kubrick-inspired shots full of colour and light and people standing still for as long as the camera stays on them. There is not much dialogue and all the story is told by the great yet cold sets and by the vacuous looks of the characters. But as the plot moves forward, you soon realise where this whole thing is going and the reveals are extremely upsetting and uncomfortable.
This is a difficult unre-watchable film, which I did not enjoy in the slightest, but one cannot deny that it is beautiful to look at even during its most disturbing scenes, and believe me it has plenty of those.
The Neon Demon was shown on Saturday, September 24th.
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