Wednesday, October 26, 2022

The Neon Demon (2016)

 Not a Dario Argento film this time but certainly taking some visual inspiration from 'Susperia' is 'The Neon Demon'. From the Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn, best known for the Ryan Gosling/Carey Mulligan film 'Drive'. Elle Fanning is a recent orphan who lying about her age moves to L.A. to become a model. It's a vicious scene, I think we all know that, but this film dials it up to 11.

Both aggressively unpleasant and slow, everyone is mean and/or exploitive to Elle, save one struggling young photographer whose legitimately sweet on her. Manipulative agent, shallow piers, MeToo creepy photographer, passive agressive gay fashion designer, sexually predatory lesbian make up artist. Even the motel manager where Elle stays is despicable, and he's played by the famiously well liked Keanu Reeves.

The film does take an unexpected turn at roughly the three quarters mark, which adds something but not a lot. This film about vile people lacking substance is vile and lacks substance. *

No comments: