Transatlanticism

"Wanna fight?"

It's rare that a film comes along and splits the movie community so much. Only God Forgives is a film that some praised as a masterpiece whilst others label as the worst film in recent years. This film has many meanings and underlying metaphors which many people fail to notice. In this post, I want to cover the things that I saw within the movie that others may have missed out. So sit back, grab some popcorn and let's get nerdy about Nicolas Winding Refn's follow up to Drive, Only God Forgives. Keep in mind that this will have many spoilers so if you don't wish to know any significant plot points, I'd highly recommend that you stop reading now. Secondly, this is my interpretation and there are few factual thoughts stated by those involved in the movie.

The movie opens with just a taste of the incredible cinematography that Larry Smith has to offer. Having previously worked with Refn on Drive, it's safe to say that Smith is one of the best cinematographers working today. the films opening shots are so beautifully crafted that is pains me to know the Academy wont consider this film for best cinematography due the it's lurid content.

We learn quickly that Julian, played by Ryan Gosling, manages a Thai Boxing Club which acts as a front for drugs which is shown through the films firsts shots. we are introduced to Billy, Julian's older brother who says "time to meet the Devil" before heading out to feed his psychopathic urges. Julian is seen standing in front of a distinct wall looking at his brother with a look of contempt. The next few scenes are fairly straight forward; Billy attacks some women and we learn that he eventually kills one of them. The cops call in an retired officer named Chang to exact some form of vengeance on the situation. We also get our first shot of Julian staring at his hands beneath a statue of a Thai Boxer. Hands are an extremely humongous thing in this movie. I'll talk more about that later.

Upon making eye contact with Chang, Billy's expression reveals that something much greater than a human has entered the room. You can tell that he knows that Chang isn't normal. In fact, most people in this film look at Chang as if he is not normal in some way. So let's just get this out of the way. Chang is God. That's not even my interpretation, Refn has flat out said that in interviews. Refn even directed the actor portraying Chang (Vithaya Pansringarm) before shooting by whispering "you are God" in his ear before each take. This explains many things in the film such as why Chang is able to draw his sword from nowhere, why he is virtually untouchable and why he exacts vengeful justice on sinners as well as forgiveness.

Chang has the murdered girl's father brought in and rather than comforting or consoling him, he asks him how he could let his daughter becoming a prostitute. "How could you let this happen?" he asks. He then gives the father a choice; "do what you want" he says. He gives the father free will to choose what to do with his daughters killer. The father kills Billy. After seeing the remains of the fathers rampage, Chang brings the father outside and asks him to explain himself. The father begs for forgiveness yet Chang wants to know what he is sorry for. It's clear that Chang is trying to explain to the father that his real sin is that he let his daughter become a prostitute. He pulls out his sword, seemingly from nowhere, and cuts off the fathers arm saying that "this is so you wont forget them" in reference to his other daughters.

In the next scene we meet Mai (Rhatha Phongam) in which we get a rather interesting scene in which she touches herself whilst Julian remains tied up. Julian however enters an almost dream like vision. Many have speculated that Julian's seeming inability to have normal sexual encounters with women stems from an awkward and possible forced incestuous relationship with his mother. We'll talk more about that later. As Mai starts to do the deed, Julian doesn't even seem to look like he's enjoying it, he actually looks remorseful about the ordeal. Then we cross dissolve into a shot of Julian slowly panning in on him as we enter an interesting vision he seems to be having. We see a shot of an arm in the darkness and suddenly Julian is no longer tied up and he begins roaming the halls approaching a dark door, reaching into it. Chang then appears in the darkness, chopping off Julian's arm, much like he did to the father of the murdered girl. The shot returns to Julian tied up and it appears that he has had some sort of profound revelation. His session is then interrupted when one of his associates informs him of his brother Billy's death. Julian's reaction isn't exactly full of tears and sorrow.

In the next scene we the first of many karaoke songs sung by Chang. This is probably my least favourite aspect of the film. Refn has stated that the Thai people view this activity as almost a religious practise thus he felt the inclusion of it in the film was important. Take note that Chang tends to sing whenever he has just exacted vengeance on someone.

Next we meet Julian's mother Crystal (Kristin Scott Thomas.) This scene quickly makes clear that you don't want to be on the bad side of this woman. Now, many have speculated that Crystal represents the Devil but I don't know if I agree with that. I think that it's just easy to assume that a film featuring a character representing God would logically have a character that would represent the Devil. It is true that she is always the evil voice in Julian's ear telling him what to do and when, belittling him, insulting him but to say that she flat out represents the Devil is taking a bit of a leap.

We then return to Julian and his associates as they have tracked down the father who killed Billy. He is now missing an arm and begins to tell his story to Julian who eventually shows him mercy and lets him go. When the father speaks the audio fades out and we see Julian's face as if he is acknowledging something confound. When the father points to his arm, Julian seems to understand something. It's like he has made a tiny connection in his head possibly relating to the dream like vision he had had earlier. We even get a shot of Chang's sword in the darkness again. It's almost like Julian is starting to understand the significance of what took place; being forgiven of ones sins but being burden with a constant reminder of them. Refn makes the choice of making significant moments told in visuals and an incredible score by Cliff Martinez who had also worked with Refn on Drive. We then get a look of Chang's home life. It's peaceful, he takes care of his daughter and he seems to be a good man.

Once again, we get a shot of Julian's hands as he washes them in a sink but upon looking down at them, he suddenly has blood all over his hands. Now we get another dream like sequence in which he roams the halls inter spliced with shots of Chang as he approaches the dark door again, albeit this time fearful. He eventually backs away in dread. This is when Julian meets up with his mother. It is incredible obvious throughout this scene that Julian does not have a normal relationship with his mother. She is upset that Julian didn't kill the man that killed her son and doesn't seem to care that Billy raped and killed a young girl. She's pretty much the worst mother you could have. She is then seen caressing Julian's arm which does not look like normal motherly love. This is just one of the reasons why Julian is so tormented, the other is explained later. Julian was jealous of his brother, his mother clearly loved him more than him and, as we'll learn later, Julian was involved in a pretty messy family situation that could have easily screwed him and his brother up even more.

It is soon revealed that Crystal had the father of the murdered girl killed and upon hearing of Chang's involvement sets off to kill him too. Julian is then seen back at the club wearing a black shirt as he watches Mai. More shots of his hands are also seen. I believe now that he imagines himself approaching Mai due to his shirt colour turning white. In his fantasy, he puts his hands towards her. I think that he yearns to have a normal relationship with a woman but due to his strange up bringing with his mother he is unable to do so. He imagines things, fantasies, watches. He imagines Mai holding his hands and comforting him. In the middle of his fantasy, an image of his mother is inserted. His eyes open. I believe that he can't get over occurrences that happened with his mother which enrages him and leads to live an abnormal life. Two laughing men snap him out of his trance which obviously upsets him. He attacks them both out of rage and drags one of them across the floor. Now this scene looks like it's building up to something but it abruptly ends which bothered me. Perhaps this was something he imagined as well? But I don't think so.

Next, the cops visit Julian questioning him about the death of the girl's father. Julian sees Chang now and this time it doesn't seem to be a prophetic vision. You can tell Julian is intimidated by him and Chang says that Julian isn't the one they are looking for. Julian then decides to follow Chang. I mean, if you were having visions of someone who eventually showed up, you'd follow them too, right? However, the God-like Chang disappears. We then see a short montage of Chang practising with his sword, his instrument of justice and Crystal planning his eventual death. Julian then approaches Mai and asks that she pretend to be his girlfriend so she can meet his mother. I am convinced that Julian wants to show his mother that she's not the only girl in his life and the following scene at dinner tells us why. His mother insults virtually everything about him and in the next scene he lashes out at Mai when she mentions his mother. He screams at her in his only outburst in the film and it is clear that any mention of his mother at this point is something he doesn't want to hear. However, he almost immediately regrets this outburst and it's made apparent that his childhood with his mother has ruined his life.

We then see the planned assault in which the untouchable Chang chases down the one killer that gets away. The shots leading up to this show that Chang was expecting something was going to happen. Throughout this scene, everyone dies except Chang and his "Guardian Angels" i.e. the other cops. Chang even knows exactly where the killer will be, circling around to apprehend him. He is led to the man to planned the attack and upon seeing that the man is willing to accept his fate but only wishes that his son be protected is spared by Chang's justice. Chang once again draws his sword from nowhere and exacts vengeance on the one remaining killer. Now, once again at a karaoke bar, Chang confronts the other man involved and in a scene that I found personally over the top, blinds the man and stabs his ears because he "refuses to see or listen." Chang never appears to be enjoying this, only dealing justice. It was really Refn that I felt was enjoying the violence a little too much, "fetishising" it which he has publicly admitted to. Chang, having once again exacted vengeance, goes to sing some karaoke again, clearly a religious experience for him. This time however, Julian is at the bar.

When Julian wants to challenge Chang to a fight, one of his cops asks him "do you know who he is?" The way he says it almost clarifies that Julian, as well as everyone else acknowledges that Chang is more than human, that Julian literally wants to fight God Refn again has stated was a huge inspiration for him while he wrote this movie; the idea of a man who wanted to fight God.

Now we get the big fight scene in which Julian lands not a single punch, not even one. Chang is completely untouchable in every possible way. In the next scene, Crystal stands in front of a broken Julian in the same spot we first see Julian in the movie in front of the distinct wall. She begs Julian to protect her from Chang and mentions Julian's father by saying "I know after your father I would never ask you again." Julian is now a little hopeful, he clearly yearns for his mother's approval which drives Julian to kill the guard at Chang's house and break inside with his associate who thinks that everyone else must die including Chang's daughter. Julian doesn't like this.

Meanwhile, Chang and his Guardian Angels pay Crystal a visit where we learn the most important piece of Julian's past; he killed his own father with his bare hands. This makes a lot more of the film clearer for me. I believe that when Julian stares at his hands which he does so often and gives his hands to Mai in the fantasy, he feels a strong sense of regret for what he did to his father and add that to his terrible upbringing with his mother and you've got one broken man. I feel that he yearns for forgiveness for his sins which is why he keeps having strange prophetic visions of Chang cutting his arms off and his hands in the sink which have blood on them so to speak. However, in the next seen when we see Julian save Chang's daughter from his men. It's clear that he still has a moral centre and longs for forgiveness. The things that his mother is saying to cops makes it clear that she no longer wants a life with her son. This is when Chang decides to enter the room, once it's clear how horrible a mother Crystal is. It was almost as if he was listening, giving her once last chance but he knows she isn't who she says she is. He removes his magical sword from thin air and kills Crystal, exacting justice once again.

Julian then takes one of Chang's swords and finds his mothers body in her room which leads to one of the most confusing scenes of the film. He stabs the body with the sword and reaches inside. The first time I saw this I really didn't like it at all or understand it. There are multiple theories as to why he does this. According to the IMDB Trivia Page, "it was Ryan Gosling's idea to open the stomach of Julian's dead mother. He had if after director Nicolas Winding Refn asked him if he'd rather smile or cry after Julian's mothers death. He replied that he'd open her uterus to see what's inside." If that truly is the reason than Julian is a very damaged man. Some have speculated that this was a metaphor for crawling back into the womb whilst others say that it had something to do with him wanting to transfer his guilt back to his mother as his hands are a metaphor for guilt or regret in most people's eyes. Or he's just pretty messed up. Either way, this scene felt unnecessary.

Immediately, we see Julian raising his hands in a completely different location putting his guilt and regret out in front of Chang. Finally, we get the full ark Julian had, again seeing the shot of Chang's sword in the darkness. Chang accepts this sacrifice and "forgives" him by removing Julian's arms, thus the title Only God Forgives. So in a way, this is actually a happy ending for Julian. He's accepted his punishment and moved on from his past and he can now try to lead a better life. It ends with Chang again singing at the karaoke bar having once gain exacted justice.

Now apparently the original script had another final scene in which an armless Julian was being fed pudding by Mai. I really wish this scene had made it into the film, it would have helped solidify that Julian was learning to have a normal relationship with a woman, moving on from his past life. I think it would have justified more of the violence in the eyes of the films many critics.

I'll be honest, watching the films multiple times did heigthen the overall experience. I think in time, away from the hype, this film will gain more respect. It's not your typical film at all and many people were disappointed by its odd structure but I truly haven't seen any other film like it which is a huge compliment. When Refn gained much attention with Drive in 2011, everyone started watching him, the critics would be harsher, the audience more judgemental. But having made films like Valhalla Rising in which the protagonist literally didn't say a single word in the film, Refn has certainly tread ed ground like Only God Forgives before. With time, this movie will find its audience

Transatlanticism

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