Yes, No, Maybe So: "Only God Forgives"
Friday, April 12, 2013 at 5:00PM Only God Forgives reunites violence-loving director Nicolas Winding Refn with his Drive star Ryan Gosling for the story of a man (Gosling) whose cold-hearted mama (Thomas) urges him to seek vengeance against the man (Vithaya Pansringarm) who killed his brother. The trailer came out a few days ago (many days ago?) but I couldn't bring myself to type about it before now because my finger was too busy hitting "replay". The film opens in July and the wait might be excruciating.
Kristin Scott Thomas. Cinematography by Larry Smith
The trailer came out a few days ago (many days ago?) but I couldn't bring myself to type about it before now because my finger was too busy hitting "replay". We'll break it down with our Yes No Maybe So™ system after the jump and I promise to say something about it other than "OMGKristinScottThomas OMGKristinScottThomas OMGKristinScottThomas" though I can't promise I won't also say that a few times.
YES
Kristin Scott Thomas submerged in Production Design
- OMG KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS IN A TOUGH SHOWCASE ROLE? A thousand times yes. This trailer is forcing me into all caps because damn girl. Get it.
- OMG KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS is so deserving of a mainstream revival. France has attempted to colonize her exclusively and this cannot stand!
- DIRECTOR/MUSE relationships are among the most fascinating that the cinema has to offer... at least when they don't overdo it (*cough* Leo/Marty Tim/Johnny). So Gosling with his Drive auteur is a must for a second round.
- THE COLOR. It gives this amateur colorologist thrills every time he sees it (and he can't stop watching it for some reason... not the usual case with trailers)
- THE FONT SHIFT! There's style everywhere.
- BANGKOK. I just like saying it. And looking at it.
- THE GRIFTERS. I'm getting a strong 'Anjelica Huston devouring John Cusack vibe' from this trailer and this is a very high compliment. (Have you seen The Grifters? One of the very best films of the 90s)
- THAT PAIRED SHOT of the crotches is possibly ridiculous / sexist / over the top / filthy in context ... but I couldn't love it more.
Yes, I illustrated this post with only photos of Kristin Scott Thomas and Ryan Gosling's crotch. What are you going to do about it?
NO
- "Wanna Fight?" is a great trailer punchline don't get me wrong. But like a great woman once sang "♪ I don't care who's wrong or right, I don't really wanna fight no more. It's time for letting go ♫" Yes, maybe I'm grasping at straws for a "No" but I do find it frustrating that so many great movie stylists love the ultra-violent crime genre when there are other genres that are desperately in need of visual rescue.
Plus... I think I'm a little worn out on excessive cruelty at the moment. Before typing this I watched the second episode of Hannibal and I think I'm not moving on to a third. It's well made but it strikes me as a waste of a truly original creative force (Bryan Fuller of Pushing Daisies and Wonderfalls brilliance) on something we've seen a thousand times before...serial killerzzz. There's just so much killing and mayhem every night on TV now that the censors are okay with formely R rated grisliness on network TV. Do we really need just as much of it again on the big screen?
MAYBE SO
Kristin & Screen Son. Shades of "The Grifters?"
- I'm not sure about the long hair on KST
- Stoker proved to me that even the most die hard style junkies and actressexuals (i.e. myself) can be let down even when the style and actresses are working it. So I'm trying to dampen my enthusiasm somewhat.
- I concede that there is a possibility that Kristin Scott Thomas only appears in like three scenes since that's the amount of costume changes. This concession does not amuse me unless those scenes are the three best scenes in the movie.
- Is the plot interesting or just a ton of foreplay until a final two-man showdown? Not that the plot matters when there's this much style and potential actorly chemistry. The pairing of Kristin Scott Thomas and Ryan Gosling feels inspired. On paper at least.
Are you a Yes No or a Maybe So? I am a firm YES but admittedly that was pre-determined by the brilliant Drive even before this red-hot and hot-red tease.
Reader Comments (26)
Love the trailer. I really hope that Kristin will be good here and will be rewarded properly. I am just worried that the critics already awarded Albert Brooks for "similar" role and decide not to reward her. That will make me so mad because I don't think he deserved all those critic prizes at all. Let's hope that's not the case. And I agree, as much as I love Drive, the ultra violence really bothers me.
As per "Drive" I love the music of the trailer here. Any idea who or what it is?
I'm a Maybe So. KST looks fantastic in this, but I didn't love Drive.
I loved "Drive" and can't wait to see this- Mr Gosling looks beautiful and cool
I'm a Maybe. I've been disappointed by trailers that were all style/brilliance and then turned out to be so much better than the movie.
Dont even need to see the trailer... I'm a yes.
Please God let KST be nominated for this.
Thank you for this :D
Obviously Nate will put KST in his top 5 for BSA.....(but will this performance
trump Julia Roberts in AOC?)....
the trailer is great but , like you, I signed on to the next Refn movie the day I saw Drive.
Why is the trailer so dark? If the whole movie revolves in this darkness I would
Not have a clue what is happening.
Yes, yes, yes! And I, for one, love KST's hair in this. She's serving Donatella Versace realness.
Scott Thomas is way more dangerous in this trailer than Huston was in the entirety of The Grifters -- there's a major difference between projecting toughness and turning on the switch -- guess which one Scott Thomas is?
I love how Kristen foreshadows what Paris Hilton will look like in 20 years.
Apparently, Ryan is supposed to speak with a British accent in this, but I couldn't tell...granted, he said little.
The design is drool-worthy.
Gosling in an auteur-driven project? That's always a yes.
I'm such a yes.
/3rtful -- i dont quite get your analogy but then i think Anjelica Huston is genius in The Grifters, one of the best performances of that entire decade.
Mark -- it's not obvious. i haven't seen the movie yet!
I have a theory on Huston -- she's boxed in by the establishment but over estimated by her base. I can't believe you consider that performance anything more than a personal best.
Aside from the fact that you saw The Grifters theatrically -- I've owned it twice on two separate DVD editions (HBO / Miramax).
Something about the way Gosling is walking at the end there- after he says "wanna fight", elbow up, fixing his cuff- makes me think he's about to break into dance. And I would be ok with that.
(that's to say, it's a yes and OMGKST)
Between Love Crime, Bel Ami and this Thomas is having a cougar revival. Loving it.
I'm a yes.
I hope that Bangkok is used as strategically and beautifully as L.A. was in Drive. The setting was so much of another character in that film.
Kristen does feel awfully similar to Albert Brooks to me, but it would be nice to see her get some traction if the performance merits it. Even if I haven't loved as many of her choices of late, I think she's being so interesting in movies right now. She's not been as auteur-collecting as Nicole or avant garde as Tilda, but reminding us that she has her own little section of the sandbox. And with costuming and hair/makeup like in this film, I think she'll be hard to ignore.
I, too, get the Grifters vibe, and I, too, wish the best directors weren't drawn to uber-violence. But it's a YES YES YES for me.
I can just imagine Winding Refn thinking, "I need to keep feeding him British actresses so he'll keep working with me." First Carey Mulligan now Kristin Scott Thomas. I like his style. :)
YES, YES, ORGASMIC YES!
@Raul the music is Ter Kue Kwan Fun (You're a dream) a Thai classic hit from the band called Proud, the song was from the mid 90's.
As a Bangkokian, a devoted fan of Drive, and OMGKristinScottThomas...the style, the font, the song I grew up with...I hit replay like 5 times the first time i saw it, and a few more time since then. The biggest yes of the year!...but it's always a big YES, i was actually day-dreaming that I would walk into Gosling or Winding Refn when I heard they were shooting a new film here....The trailer just reassured how big a YES it is....I can hardly wait.
i just want to say thanks for your article