Only God Forgives

15 yrs 90 minutes • 2013 • 5.7

The Danish Nicolas Winding Refn, for many years residing in the United States, made the critically acclaimed movie Drive with Ryan Gosling in 2011. Now they are both back, with Only God forgives. The gangster Julian runs a Thai boxing club, which serves as a cover for the family drug empire. When his brother Billy is murdered, their mother Crystal comes to Bangkok to bring his body home and to get Julian to avenge the murder. In Sydsvenskan, Michael Tapper confesses that he is split: "At times it feels corny, especially when Scott Thomas tries to act as the mother of evil. But, at its best, it's a nightmare witch chapel of perverse image and sound poetry that evokes like David Lynch or why not Alejandro Jodorowsky, who Winding Refn, dedicates the work to in the opening."