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Simply A Masterpiece

Don't Believe the Hype

A different way of telling a story

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

As a fan of Nicolas Winding Refn's most "beloved" works (Drive, Bronson) and what many see as his worst (Only God Forgives), I would say that The Neon Demon matches his stunning (colorblind) eye for lighting and cinematography while in some ways tempering his tendency toward visceral brutality, replacing it with disturbing, "maneater" psycho-sexuality. The film follows a young model (Elle Fanning) whose natural beauty stuns the modeling world, quickly turning a makeup artist (Jena Malone) and two beauty-obsessed models (Bella Heathcote, Abbey Lee Kershaw) into obsessive lust and jealousy.As with Only God Forgives before it, the film uses symbolism and unspoken implication to create its allusions, which in this case seem to highlight the illusion of beauty and the obsessive fantasies created to either fake it or make it. However, much of this gets lost in the sparseness of the material and in the symbolism that doesn't immediately connect to the themes Refn is conveying to the viewer. With an underdeveloped narrative, the film has a brooding underbelly that never brings us too far under the surface.Despite a charming Karl Glusman, a sinister Keanu Reeves, an eerie Desmond Harrington and a pretentious Alessandro Nivola in supporting roles, the film is very thin on story and character development undercutting the power its four main female characters could have. With things moving too quickly to their conclusion, the film never truly realizes the promise of its exploration of a beauty-obsessed industry full of Lady Macbeth types. So while it may rejuvenate Refn's standing following Only God Forgives, it doesn't move him far away from the perception of Refn being pretentiously visual while lacking substance or immediacy. This perception was created by Valhalla Rising and Only God Forgives in quite possibly an unfair manner. Nevertheless, there is enough here to satisfy the niche audience of Refn fans who enjoy his violent surrealism. However, there won't be much for audiences outside of that niche to consume... if you excuse the pun.

Most of the time, absolutely NOTHING happens in this flick. And when something finally does happen, it either makes no sense whatsoever and/or is completely ludicrous (not in an amusing way).Although technically well executed, I find the visual style pretentious and tacky and I'd say the same about the soundtrack.It's almost as if the idea was to make a David Lynch flick for millennials: brightly colored, empty, meaningless drivel covered up with a sauce of faux deep symbolism and some "edgy" violence & sex for shock value.The director surely was happy to just make a buck and get away with it all. If you were to compliment him on his work, I think he would find you stupid.

Any stars I can give this film will be for some of the visually interesting scenes and some decent music. Unfortunately that's all there really is to it. The content, so to speak, is utterly dull and uninspired. I saw an interview with Refn where he basically sums up this film as being about "what it would be like to be born beautiful." This is a well-worn theme and he does very little to expand upon it beyond introducing this tacked-on "witchcraft" element. The acting is mostly not that great either. I have liked a lot of his other work but I cannot recommend this film.

Suspira is a visually sumptuous experience with incredible audio, a film to immerse yourself in. Neon Demon has tried to replicate the style, music and even theme of Suspira. It is a passible attempt but falls way short. The colour saturation; dominant haunting music; long corridor & door shots; long slow non-action; vampires replacing witches; lesbian theme - these all reflect Suspira. Enjoy this film but for a special experience watch the original.