DVD/BluRay | 'The Neon Demon' Film Review
'The Neon Demon' tells the story of an aspiring model who moves to Los Angeles in pursuit of her dreams, only to have her youth and vitality destroyed by a group of beauty-obsessed women who'll do anything to get what she has.
In all honesty, there are absolutely no words for this sexist and misogynistic film, save for the fact that it's exactly that.
Whatever positive buzz 'The Neon Demon' garnered is skewed. Like many of director Nicolas Winding Refn’s films, there is a lot of style and little to no substance. 'The Neon Demon' is the pinnacle of form following function, and what better way to show this than through the empty and heartless world of the LA modelling scene. If this was the point of the film, the director has made it loud and clear.
Winding Refn has certainly forged his way as a visual auteur. As a storyteller, he still has a long way to go. It would be interesting to see him journey into the field of music video direction - his visual style rather suited to the medium.
Winding Refn seems to hand scriptwriting duties over to others, much like he did with 'Drive', which was still average at best. Many may agree that he should try his hand at cinematography instead, seeing as his last two efforts in 'Only God Forgives' and now 'The Neon Demon' are nothing more than horrifically ‘pleasing’ to the eye.
The bare basics of this film reveals a sixteen-year-old model literally being devoured by the fashion industry – but the story is hardly anything more than something to carry his visual capabilities. This film plays like a fashion magazine like Vogue or Elle - there are many ‘glamorous’ though mindless photos without any text.
'The Neon Demon' is simply a lookbook, where viewers peruse through the two hours of footage presented; however, by the time they reach the end, there is simply no other message than a reminder of what society portrays as beauty.
To accentuate this, Winding Refn attempts to add 'horror' elements to the film, but they play as less 'horror' and more gore and disgust. Combining these two elements just makes this film ridiculous and somewhat irritating, particularly towards the end where it simply appears to be porn for the indulgent male viewer, and begins to take a misogynistic approach. It is disgusting and at times, upsetting to witness how these female characters are portrayed on screen.
The acting performances come across as unnatural and pretentious; however, this stems from an extremely lacking script and poor direction, as it seems the actors made the most of a bad situation.
Fittingly, the soundtrack is relevant and well suited to the visuals, pounding a reminder into the audience of what kind of world we’re living in, and furthering our disgust of what is displayed on the screen.
If you enjoy mindlessly scrolling through fashion magazines, and seek no pleasure in following a coherent, well-developed plot, then by all means, check it out!
But if you’re looking for a guilty-pleasure with substance, compelling characters and a killer storyline – ‘The Neon Demon’ is not the film for you.
'The Neon Demon' is available on Blu-Ray and DVD in all good retailers and online stores.
