14 DAY TRIAL // When Nicolas Winding Refn took his first collaboration with Ryan Gosling, the film “Drive,” to Cannes, he won over critics in a heartbeat. The first reaction to his latest, “Only God Forgives,” seems to indicate he still has a long way to go before winning them all over.
The film has just screened at the Cannes Film Festival 2013 and, according to various reports, it got plenty of booing from the audience and several unintentional fits of laughter.
Apparently, the violence was too much for viewers to take. Then again, Refn was never the kind to shy away from presenting it in close-up.
Gosling wasn’t at the premiere because he’s now working on his directorial debut, but Refn and leading lady Kristin Scott Thomas were.
“Art is an act of violence. Art is about penetration. Art is about speaking to our subconscious and our needs at different levels,” Refn said after the screening, in defense of the film.
However, he also admitted that, “I surely have a fetish for violent emotions, violent images and I just can't explain where it comes from.”
A trailer for “Only God Forgives” is embedded above. *Please note that discretion is recommended when viewing it because it contains images that might offend.