Everyone has been chomping at the bit to see Ryan Gosling in "Only God Forgives," the new movie from "Drive" writer/director Nicolas Winding Refn. Their awesome/weird arthouse bromance has been extensively documented; Refn recently told the New York Times, "Ryan and I become one person when we work. Directing can be very intimate." Whether or not that closeness has resulted in a good movie or not is up for debate. The journalists at Cannes seem to think not.
Now, Cannes audiences boo a lot of movies. It's a hobby. They boo so many things that BAMcinématek in Brooklyn recently showed a film series dedicated to the films booed at Cannes, which include "Wild at Heart," "Taxi Driver," and "Crash." After the screening of "Only God Forgives," some came in for the kill.
Sasha Stone of AwardsDaily called it "the careful work of a serial killer -- not literally out there killing women but indulging in one bloody killing after another, practically licking the knife afterwards."
Peter Debruge at Variety wrote, "As hyper-aggressive revenge fantasies go, it's curious to see one so devoid of feeling, a veniality even 'Drive' fans likely won't be inclined to forgive."
HitFix's Oscar expert Guy Lodge gave it a mixed review: " Even amid my appreciation for its woozy, sculpted grossness, however, I can't help wishing 'Only God Forgives' was doing a little more, and I mean purely on the level of nuts-and-bolts storytelling, not grander emotional or thematic resonance."
Jeff Wells, never one for understatement, lambasted the movie, calling it "malignant, odious crap," later adding, "It's rare to find a movie as dedicated as this one to making absolutely no sense" and "I was repelled by this film in ways I didn't know I could be repelled before I saw it."
While the actual amount of booing was under some debate from those in attendance -- Alex Billington of FirstShowing said there was “Slight applause, some booing, slight whistling” -- it's clear that this film is going to be heavily debated when it hits theaters this summer. For now, US audiences will have to wait until July 19 to see for themselves if Refn and Gosling's arthouse bromance needs forgiveness.
[h/t HuffPost Ent]
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