Nicolas Winding Refn Page 2

A Gosling film booed at Cannes? Surely not! Well, it looks as though Nicolas Winding Refn's new movie Only God Forgives - about a boxing club owner who is pressured by his mother to avenge the death of his brother's murder - wasn't exactly the audience pleaser that several critics made it out to be. According to AFP, "Boos rang out at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday," with many in the auditorium wincing or unable to watch.

Fortunately for Gosling, he was nowhere near the screening after sending his apologizes for giving Cannes a miss this year. He is currently in Detroit shooting his directorial debut How To Catch A Monster, "Can't believe I'm not In Cannes," Gosling said in a letter read out by Cannes director Thierry Femaux, "I was hoping to come but I'm on week three shooting my film in Detroit. Miss you all. Nicolas, my friend, we really are the same persons in different dimensions. I'm sending you good vibrations."

His absence is a clear blow to the festival, though Gosling wouldn't have enjoyed the reaction that Only God Forgives incited inside the auditorium in France. The violence is said to reach bizarre extremes and although several critics gave it five-star reviews, most conceded that cinema walkouts are inevitable when the film gets a full release. The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw wrote, "It may not win the Palme D'Or, but it could win the Walkout D'Or, a gold trophy of a cinema-seat banged up into the upright position. Nicolas Winding Refn's Only God Forgives is a glitteringly strange, mesmeric and mad film set among American criminal expatriates in Bangkok." Jordan Hoffman at Film.com quipped, "There's an old expression in musical theater - you don't leave humming the lights."

Continue reading: Gosling Film Booed At Cannes, But Is 'Only God Forgives' That Bad?

There is an understanding in Hollywood that if they don’t like your film at Cannes, you’ll know, which is exactly what happened yesterday with Nicolas Winding Refn’s latest flick Only God Forgives. The film stars Ryan Gosling with Refn in the director’s seat – a promising combination, considering that their last team project (Drive) nabbed the Best Director award at the festival. Only God Forgives, however, probably isn’t going to reach the same acclaim, at least not if the audience of journalists, movie critics and assorted insiders is any indication.

Once again, Gosling has been type-cast as the strong, silent character.

According to Vulture’s Kyle Buchanan, the movie has ample amounts of blood and guts, properly amplified by the eye-popping red lighting that’s meant to signify Bangkok’s seediest neighbourhoods. What it doesn’t have though is the subtlety and tender moments, necessary to balance out the gore. Gosling’s performance is once ago according to type – the strong silent type, who is bullied by his terrible mother into avenging the death of his even more terrible brother.

Continue reading: Cannes Wasn't Forgiving To "Only God Forgives"

Nicolas Refn’s Only God Forgives premiered at Cannes this week, unfortunately, without its star Ryan Gosling in attendance. Gosling was away on his own directorial duties for his debut, How to Catch a Monster, but he did send an extremely polite note to apologize for his absence.

“I can’t believe that I’m not in Cannes with you,” Gosling wrote, quoted by Time Magazine. “I was hoping to be coming but I am in the third week of shooting my movie. I miss you all. Nicolas, my friend, we really are the same, simply in different worlds and I am sending you good vibrations. I am with you all.”

Yes, of course we forgive you, Ryan. Also, you can have as much time as you like and we’re sure the film is going to be a majestic work of art (a bit too much). Unfortunately, the discerning Cannes audience and the critics thus far haven’t been as forgiving of Only God Forbids, which has taken something of a blasting for its garish colour palette and overly dramatic attempts at being a violent, arty revenge flick.

Continue reading: The Cannes Premiere Of 'Only God Forgives' Goes By Without Ryan Gosling, But With Lots Of Buzz

What it's like to sit on the jury at the Cannes Film Festival and have the power to present the director of the very best movie with the prestigious Palme d'Or? This year, Steven Spielberg, Ang Lee, Nicole Kidman and Christoph Waltz bring a touch of Hollywood A-list glamor to the event and will spent 10 days in darkened screening rooms debating each of the movies in competition.

British director Stephen Fears headed the jury in 2007, when he and his team chose Romanian movie 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days as the Palme d'Or winner ahead of the Coen's No Country For Old Men, David Fincher's Zodiac, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof. "They were very anti-American, the jury. But I kept saying that American films are watched all over the world. This cut no ice with a few bolshy women on the jury," Frears told the BBC ahead of the Festival this week, "I don't know, you try and behave sensibly. I hear all those stories about people manipulating things, but there didn't seem to be any of that. There were no orders from above - nobody tried to interfere, but there were a few basic rules which you had to follow," he added.

Sitting in a darkened room and watching the very best movies of the year before anyone else sounds pretty fantastic right? "...you're terrified of is going to sleep," said Frears, "...so I had coffee brought to me to stay awake - it was manageable. I didn't write notes but I had a friend with me and she and I would discuss the film afterwards." On whether he still recognised that he had chosen the best movie in competition, Frears was unequivocal, saying, "Oh yes, it was a wonderful, original film. I'm sure it benefitted from winning, it was a very accessible film. I'm sure if you spoke to distributors, I'm sure they would say Michael Haneke's film [2012 Palme d'Or and Oscar-winner] Amour has done really well."

Continue reading: Dark Rooms, Bans And Bolshy Women: How The Cannes Jury Choose The Palme D'Or Winner

We are far more used to seeing Agyness Deyn on the runway, swathed in the world's most sumptuous fabrics and being adored and revered, not working as a stripper in a seedy club. However that's exactly the character, named Flo, that Deyn plays in the brand new remake of the 1996 Danish film 'Pusher'.

Nicolas Winding Refn directed the original and has opted to produce this new English language version. The plot follows Frank (played by Richard Coyle), a drug dealer with a sidekick called Tony (Bronson Webb). Frank is at a loss as to how to pay back the 'local kingpin' for some lost gear. All of this spirals down into bloody violence. Refn chose to give the stripper, Flo, a bigger part in this remake and intends to gear the sequel towards her and her story in Las Vegas, so reports the Telegraph. The Danish film 'Pusher' ended up having two sequels and is normally referred to as the 'Pusher Trilogy', however if the sequel to this new Pusher is made, it will have no relation to it's Danish equivalent.

This isn't Deyn's first acting job, she also played Aprhodite in Clash of the Titans in 2010, and has since acted in the West End in 'The Leisure Society', achieving great critical acclaim. Her next big project is in a starring role in an adaptation of the classic Scottish novel 'Sunset Song'.