Only God ForgivesVisiting another country is like visiting another world...and each world has its own underworld, and its own avenging angels. Only God Forgives is a revenge film set in Bangkok, Thailand, about Julian (Ryan Gosling), who is both a training manager at a gym for young Muay Thai fighters as well as a member of an American drug dealing family that operates in the city. When Julian's older brother, Billy (Tom Burke), is killed by the father of a young girl he raped and murdered, their mother, Crystal (Kristin Scott Thomas), comes to Bangkok to seek vengeance for the death of her favorite son. But protecting the city with a cold ruthlessness is police officer Lieutenant Chang (Vithaya Pansringarm), an "angel of vengeance" of the Old Testament variety.
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Although Only God Forgives is largely a revenge film, it is more of a subversion of the tropes of the genre. The film creates an atmosphere of nightmarish nihilism and consuming sin in its deep shadows, with a color palette of pronounced reds and blacks and moody lighting. The striking look is paired with slow-motion, contemplative, even hallucinatory sequences that are emblematic of filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn, whose other works include Drive, also starring Ryan Gosling. This vision of Bangkok is not of the lovely city, but the seedy underbelly, one which is ironically occupied by the Americans who metaphorically feast on the native population. Theirs is an incursion recalling colonial arrogance and destructive appetites at the expense of their "hosts". Julian and his family are overwhelmingly corrupt, evil people, embodying the worst manifestations of the "ugly American" stereotype, and then some. While Julian might be the mildest of the trio, even he is consumed by a want for decadence, engaging in aberrant sexual practices with his favorite prostitute, Mai (Rhatha Phongam), even screaming at her out of frustration because his mother has berated him earlier. There are insinuations about an incestuous relationship between Crystal and Billy--perhaps even Julian--and the decadent lifestyle exhibited by all three show them drenched in all the excess of wealth but with none of the happiness. Crystal resembles a woman who has tried very hard to look as young as she can, and speaks with such vitriol and offensiveness as to shock the most cynical of audiences. Billy's death comes with the tinge of justice--or at least retribution--and could be interpreted as being advocated by Chang, given how horrible Billy treated the people in the city before he was killed. As Crystal manipulates events, pushing Julian and fellow gang member, Byron (Byron Gibson), to escalate the violence, Chang retaliates with a contingent of fellow police officers to deliver cruel and even unusual punishment against those who seek to destroy the lives of his people.
In most revenge films, the plot principally follows the avenger, the one who delivers brutal judgment against the forces of evil. However, in Only God Forgives, the film flips this expectation by making Julian the protagonist, forcing the audience into spending most of its time with the Americans, and only seeing the unassuming-looking Chang when he appears to swing his sword and swiftly deliver justice. Essentially, Julian--while not even close to being a hero--is forced into the role of the protagonist, and Chang as the "antagonist" of the film based on the framing of the narrative. It is clear that Refn has made Only God Forgives to challenge the expectations of Western audiences by deliberately inverting these tropes. Even the titles and credits are primarily in Thai--although top billing goes to an Western actor--to underscore that this is effectively an Eastern revenge film. A climactic martial arts showdown between Chang and Julian--who petulantly provokes him by barking, "wanna fight"--deprives the audience of a fight of two closely matched fighters. (Julian is no match for the experienced Chang.) What Only God Forgives forces the audience to acknowledge is that when watching a genre film, the conventions of it sometimes become an excuse for other stylistic devices, like bloody violence and extreme action. Certainly Only God Forgives has this, but there is also an unnerving and surreal quality that encourages the audience to view this in a new way. Chang doesn't look the part of a sleek, cool warrior, skilled though he may be; he looks like a middle-aged father, albeit one who trains with a sword that seems to manifest from nowhere, as if it were a true extension of his will. When Chang is first shown, he is like a ghost, whose actions even haunt Julian's dreams. He is of a clear mind, and he channels his thought by practicing with his sword until sunset by the water. He administers justice not only to the criminals from afar, but to the very same man who he advocated to revenge himself upon Billy, cutting off his hand for selling his daughter into prostitution in the first place. Chang says little, making him the archetypal "silent avenger", a contrast to Crystal who has a lot to say--most of it deliberately offensive. By comparison, Julian says very little in the entirety of Only God Forgives, although this is due less to his composure than his putting on a kind of "Mr. Cool" act, believing himself to be the "hero" of the piece.
The portrayal of Westerners as the destructive, foreign element in Only God Forgives is in tandem with the kind of decadent hedonism that seems to infect Bangkok, emphasized in subtle ways. For instance, Mai is essentially "bought" by Julian to satisfy his desires, and he gives her a "gift" of a dress--which is far too provocative to wear when meeting someone's mother under normal circumstances. The dress is, however, very "Western", and a confrontation Mai and Julian have over it has many more elements to it. Essentially, it is something he bought using money he reaped from Thailand through his illicit business, then used to claim ownership of Mai--her loyalty and her favors--in a kind of slavery. His anger at her rejection of it--and subsequent humiliation--comes from his inability to understand a world he isn't a part of...not just Thailand but a world without vice and elitist dominance. Even in the Muay Thai club Julian runs, as Chang beats on Julian in their fight, an impassive golden statue of a Muay Thai warrior--one meant to look a lot like Julian--stares on blankly, as though the ill-gotten wealth of this criminal syndicate means nothing in the face of a warrior motivated by justice. The moments when Chang sings romantic ballads in a small club filled with his fellow cops is a moment of wholesome goodness and peace. Conversely, when Chang interrupts and subsequently tortures Byron, it is in a very different club, which is surrounded by Western influences--a picture of Michaelangelo's "David", and all the girls are dressed in petticoats. This kind of world is depicted as deviant and unnatural in Chang's Bangkok, the playground of criminals and sociopaths. By upending these expectations and presumptions about revenge films, Only God Forgives invites its audience into a different world, challenging stereotypes and concepts of justice.
Recommended for: Fans of a vivid and hypnotic interpretation of revenge films, with a haunting, heavily synthesized musical score by frequent Refn collaborator Cliff Martinez. Only God Forgives is an exceedingly graphic, violent film, not for the faint of heart, but it is one that lurks deep in the recesses of your mind, in those dark places, and provokes intriguing responses about our responsibilities to different cultures.
In most revenge films, the plot principally follows the avenger, the one who delivers brutal judgment against the forces of evil. However, in Only God Forgives, the film flips this expectation by making Julian the protagonist, forcing the audience into spending most of its time with the Americans, and only seeing the unassuming-looking Chang when he appears to swing his sword and swiftly deliver justice. Essentially, Julian--while not even close to being a hero--is forced into the role of the protagonist, and Chang as the "antagonist" of the film based on the framing of the narrative. It is clear that Refn has made Only God Forgives to challenge the expectations of Western audiences by deliberately inverting these tropes. Even the titles and credits are primarily in Thai--although top billing goes to an Western actor--to underscore that this is effectively an Eastern revenge film. A climactic martial arts showdown between Chang and Julian--who petulantly provokes him by barking, "wanna fight"--deprives the audience of a fight of two closely matched fighters. (Julian is no match for the experienced Chang.) What Only God Forgives forces the audience to acknowledge is that when watching a genre film, the conventions of it sometimes become an excuse for other stylistic devices, like bloody violence and extreme action. Certainly Only God Forgives has this, but there is also an unnerving and surreal quality that encourages the audience to view this in a new way. Chang doesn't look the part of a sleek, cool warrior, skilled though he may be; he looks like a middle-aged father, albeit one who trains with a sword that seems to manifest from nowhere, as if it were a true extension of his will. When Chang is first shown, he is like a ghost, whose actions even haunt Julian's dreams. He is of a clear mind, and he channels his thought by practicing with his sword until sunset by the water. He administers justice not only to the criminals from afar, but to the very same man who he advocated to revenge himself upon Billy, cutting off his hand for selling his daughter into prostitution in the first place. Chang says little, making him the archetypal "silent avenger", a contrast to Crystal who has a lot to say--most of it deliberately offensive. By comparison, Julian says very little in the entirety of Only God Forgives, although this is due less to his composure than his putting on a kind of "Mr. Cool" act, believing himself to be the "hero" of the piece.
The portrayal of Westerners as the destructive, foreign element in Only God Forgives is in tandem with the kind of decadent hedonism that seems to infect Bangkok, emphasized in subtle ways. For instance, Mai is essentially "bought" by Julian to satisfy his desires, and he gives her a "gift" of a dress--which is far too provocative to wear when meeting someone's mother under normal circumstances. The dress is, however, very "Western", and a confrontation Mai and Julian have over it has many more elements to it. Essentially, it is something he bought using money he reaped from Thailand through his illicit business, then used to claim ownership of Mai--her loyalty and her favors--in a kind of slavery. His anger at her rejection of it--and subsequent humiliation--comes from his inability to understand a world he isn't a part of...not just Thailand but a world without vice and elitist dominance. Even in the Muay Thai club Julian runs, as Chang beats on Julian in their fight, an impassive golden statue of a Muay Thai warrior--one meant to look a lot like Julian--stares on blankly, as though the ill-gotten wealth of this criminal syndicate means nothing in the face of a warrior motivated by justice. The moments when Chang sings romantic ballads in a small club filled with his fellow cops is a moment of wholesome goodness and peace. Conversely, when Chang interrupts and subsequently tortures Byron, it is in a very different club, which is surrounded by Western influences--a picture of Michaelangelo's "David", and all the girls are dressed in petticoats. This kind of world is depicted as deviant and unnatural in Chang's Bangkok, the playground of criminals and sociopaths. By upending these expectations and presumptions about revenge films, Only God Forgives invites its audience into a different world, challenging stereotypes and concepts of justice.
Recommended for: Fans of a vivid and hypnotic interpretation of revenge films, with a haunting, heavily synthesized musical score by frequent Refn collaborator Cliff Martinez. Only God Forgives is an exceedingly graphic, violent film, not for the faint of heart, but it is one that lurks deep in the recesses of your mind, in those dark places, and provokes intriguing responses about our responsibilities to different cultures.