Only God Forgives (2013)

This week for Mubi Monday I look at a film that I was surprised to see on the platform. As of this writing, it is still available through the end of August on Mubi. That film is…Only God Forgives (2013).

Title: Only God Forgives

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn

Released: May 22, 2013 (Cannes Film Festival)

Runtime: 1 hour 30 minutes

Available to stream on: Prime Video, Tubi, Kanopy, and through the end of August 2024 on Mubi

Julian (Ryan Gosling) runs a boxing gym in Bangkok with his brother Billy (Tom Burke). While this might seem legitimate, the gym works as a front to cover the drug dealing business that Julian and Billy thrive in.

One night, Billy visits a brothel looking for sex with an underage girl. When the proprietor tells him that isn’t going to happen, Billy snaps. He strikes the proprietor with a wine bottle before attacking one of the girls. Now, if you thought Billy was reprehensible for that, just wait. Later that same night he kills a sixteen-year-old prostitute. The police corner Billy, bring the father of the girl to identify her body, and proceed to let the father beat Billy to death.

Julian’s mother, Crystal (Kristin Scott Thomas) arrives in town and immediately demands that Billy’s killer be found and killed. Julian urges his mother to understand that, given the circumstances of Billy’s death, finding and eliminating his killer will be anything but a walk in the park.

From this point forward, everything becomes a game of cat and mouse.

Will Julian go about things in a way to not disrupt his underworld dealings?

Or will Crystal take matters into her own hands?

Have you ever watched a movie and walked away from it not knowing how you should feel? Well, that was me after the credits rolled on Only God Forgives (2013).

First things first, visually this is a treat for the eyes. Refn expertly uses neon, shadows, and reflections to fully immerse us in this neo-noir. Given that there isn’t a lot of dialogue at all, for any character, I found myself relying on the visuals to keep me engaged.

Why did I rely on the visuals to keep me engaged? That’s because there isn’t much else to hold your attention span for the ninety-minute runtime. “An eye for an eye”, while an interesting central plot point and lending itself to some entertaining fight scenes, isn’t enough to carry a film where we aren’t given enough to care one way or the other about the outcome of any of the characters.

For everything that I enjoyed about Only God Forgives (2013), I can’t help feeling like there were just as many things missing and hindering the film.

Well, now it’s your turn!

If you’ve seen Only God Forgives (2013), let me know what you thought of it in the comments below or anywhere across social media!

As always, you can see my quick thoughts on everything else I’ve been watching over on Letterboxd.