only-god-forgives-gosling

Hey, Girl. The redband trailer for the new Ryan Gosling and Nicolas Winding Refn (DRIVE) film has dropped out of genre-geek heaven. ONLY GOD FORGIVES is the name of their new crime drama that has the aforementioned Gosling (THE NOTEBOOK) in Thailand seeking revenge after a local police lieutenant kills his brother. He is spurned on by his unstable mother (Kristin Scott Thomas of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE fame). If the film’s poster and Winding Refn’s earlier work are any indication we can expect a provocative blend of highly-stylized gritty violence. Let’s see if everyone’s hopes and dreams will come true.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/YqAeVosG4zI[/youtube]

Yup. That looks like it was filmed by someone who is good at filming things. The lighting alone sets up a specific tone of dread and when mixed to Scott Thomas’ creepy words we get a winner. The framing of the shots and the deep focus we get in some of these are downright Kubrickian. I hope that is a constant throughout. As is expected the film looks like it’ll be  violent and it looks like Gosling will not speak much (which is probably a good thing since he looks a lot more intimidating when he isn’t making noise). I don’t love any of his films but I still get excited for their release. Refn has a unique eye for storytelling that we don’t see through often nowadays. Oh, and the use of the music in the trailer especially the karaoke bit was equal parts unsettling and clever.

Seek salvation with ONLY GOD FORGIVES this July 19th, 2013 in US theaters