Only god forgives
I'd seen mixed reviews for this so wasn't sure what I was getting when I bought this. Thanks to a rainy day and some spare time I decided to give it a whirl and found I really like it.
Anyone expecting a repeat of DRIVE is bound to feel dissappointed. While again starring Ryan Gosling in an almost mute performance OGF is an entirely different beast of a film. Set in a lurid neon Bangkok awash with primary colors it follows the ex-pat American and British gangsters involved in the city's drug trade. All of whom are strangers in a strange land in their new adoptive country. After Goslings character's Brother is murdered in a revenge killing his mother arrives in the city seeking vengeance against those involved and sparks a wave of bloodshed that threatens to take everyone down with it. Despite its lurid color scheme the film deals in shades of grey. The Stoic Bangkok detective may be crooked but he seems to be doing everything for the right reasons. The Brother actually deserved his fate, and Goslings character is fine with letting the matter rest before his mother gets involved. Kristin Scott Thomas is great as the attractive on the surface but ugly underneath mother with a strange almost incestuous relationship with her sons. Goslings calm mute exterior only seems to crack after meeting with his mother.
OGF is an odd, brutal but rewarding piece of cinema. It looks amazing and manages to defy any expectations I had of it. It's dedicated to Alexandro Jodorowsky and the influence certainly shows in places. Especially with the framing of shots and heavy use of symbolism. The films moody score is also worthy of note. Definitely a film to seek out but I suspect its going to be the sort of film that really divides it's audience down the middle as I can see some people really hating it.
Invasion of the body snatchers
Finally, after much waiting and e-mailing to Arrow it arrives and the disc is worth the wait. Kaufman's take on the Body snatchers tale is my personal favorite and on Arrows Blu-ray it has never looked better. Set in San Francisco at the tail end of the 70's Kaufman takes the tale of de-humanising pod people and transposes it into a major city. Given the way people in city's seem to try and stay out of everyone elses way its a horribly plausible take on the story. I'm not a city person so I can recall quite vividly my visits to London and the way everyone around me would try and ignore each other. So the film is totally believable as Kaufman fills the background of his scenes with clear signs of the invasion. People being chased down the street ect.. as the main characters seem totally oblivious to what is going on.
Set in the city that defined the counter-culture movement right as everyone who was involved in the peace movement were beginning to sell out for big bucks, leading into the excesses of the 80's this body snatchers seems as much a take on the changing times and the transformation into pod people as a metaphor for the embracing of the yuppie lifestyle.
or perhaps i'm reading too much into it...
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