If only Nicolas Winding Refn were as intent on my liking his films as I was.
The first few scenes of Neon Demon offer the richness of experience that, as it seems, only Nicolas Winding Refn is capable of delivering. The protagonist (Elle Fanning), a gorgeous aspiring model from small-town Georgia, glides wide-eyed through the streets of LA in a red Mustang, driven by her new (and soon-to-be-ex-) boyfriend. America’s Next Top Model, after crossing America’s Former Top Model, comes home to a puma, prowling about her thrashed motel room. A haggard-looking Keanu Reeves strides out of the dingy, blue-lit motel lobby to smoke a cigarette in the red light of the Motel 6 sign. Indeed, this was quite something. Was Neon Demon going to be what Only God Forgives never was—the movie that could rival Drive?
THE ROSTOV REVIEW 