My Grading System

A+ = Masterpiece (I hold back on this one.) / A = Great. / A- = Really Good. / B+ = Good. / B = Decent (Serviceable). / B- = Flawed but okay (For those times there's something redeeming about the work). / C+ = Not very good (Skip it). C = Bad. / C- = Awful. / F = Complete Disaster (I hold back on this one too).

Note on Spoilers: I will try to avoid ruining a story by going into too much detail. But if I wish to include some revealing points to my analysis I will try to remember to add a separate spoiler paragraph.

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Neon Demon (2016)

Nicolas Winding Refn is a brutal filmmaker and here he makes a sardonic statement on the modeling world's obsession with perfection and the youthful ideas of beauty.   Reminiscent of Argento’s Suspiria, Refn spins a horror film that is stylistically techno and vibrant with dread.  It demands to be seen and remembered.  Unfortunately for me it’s also flawed by the weight of its own shocking goofiness.  I can’t tell if you’re supposed to find it over the top funny (which it’s not) or if you’re supposed to be grossed out (which I was).   Elle Fanning is radiant and the perfect victim at hand.  If only the audience was rewarded for following her doomed story.  I do recommend it though for fans of risky film making and applaud Refn for jumping outside the box of normal.   Grade: B+


Spoiler:  That end is just stupid.  I mean, eating the eyeball is cartoony.  What could have been a shocking ending lost its luster with a moment of slapstick gore.  It does kind of resonate with the rest of the film but for the last moment to be so outlandish, I just felt betrayed.  Also couldn’t Fanning’s character have found some victory against her attackers?  I hate it when the villains win without any consequence.  If she could have killed one of them before dying I would have been way more pleased.

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