[7]

Fans of Drive and Only God Forgives director Nicolas Winding Refn should find his latest effort beautiful and interesting. Outsiders may find it frustrating. Elle Fanning headlines a strong cast, playing an underage model trying to make it big in Los Angeles. She sorta has a boyfriend (Karl Glusman from Gaspar Noe’s Love), and may be attracting same-sex adoration from a makeup artist (a wonderful Jena Malone) while making enemies of models who are just slightly past their prime (Bella Heathcote and Abbey Lee). Keanu Reeves is thrown into the mix as a nasty motel landlord, and Dexter‘s Desmond Harrington plays an aloof quasi-predatory photographer.

We are given precious little information about our main character — so be prepared to bring your own backstory to the table. In fact, be prepared to do a lot of the work here. Refn is not interested in explaining things or resolving them. The Neon Demon is an exercise in ‘form as content’, washed in the director’s trademark Jolly Ranger color palette and Cliff Martinez’ uber-cool synth scoring. I would have liked more narrative push throughout the middle of the film, but I’m honestly not sure Refn’s work can take that sort of conventional tailoring. His films work best when you’re left wondering, ‘what the fuck.’ And the third act of this one will certainly leave you with that sentiment. In many ways, I feel this movie is a Rorschach test. If you want it to be shallow, it’s shallow. If you want it to be deep, it’s deep. Either way, and perhaps regardless, it’s kinda gorgeous.