The Neon Demon

If you’ve never experienced a Nicolas Winding Refn film before you should just know that most of his productions are basically beautiful shots of performance art caught on camera. You would never know it by simply looking at the surface because his films are so abstract at times but he does present quite a few cautionary and almost morally tinged themes in his artwork. Now it’s a bit odd to say that you can possibly get something good from a neurotic submissive film director, especially one who puts his initials in the opening frames of his films, but in the case of The Neon Demon it’s actually true.

In his latest effort to take us through a journey into his twisted mind, Refn introduces us to the dark world of beauty and fashion. And through his eyes, we meet the sweet, wholesome, and innocent Jesse (Elle Fanning), an aspiring model who has just arrived on the scene of LA. She was discovered by an amateur photographer through social media who convinced her to come out to California to chase her dreams. And in the process of trying to get her big start she’s introduced to a world of models, fashion designers, and agencies who are all conceited, vain, and overly ambitious to a deadly fault. This doesn’t even include the photographers and the shady people who take advantage of the desperate youth they encounter on a daily basis.

Point and case being Keanu Reeves’s character who runs the hotel that Jesse is staying in. He deliberately rents his rooms out to underage girls so that he can take advantage of them financially, and as the film goes on, you assume in other ways too. And as funny as his approach can be at times, he’s really just a despicable cretin who clearly belongs behind bars. But sadly he’s just one of the many awful aspects Refn decides to put his focus on in this particular story.

In this seemingly parallel universe you discover that beauty isn’t the most important thing, it’s the only thing; and that people will do just about anything to hold on to it and their place in the hierarchy of the fashion world. Things get so out of hand at one point that you openly start to wonder if this underworld, so to speak, is really just a clever scheme to lure beautiful women into a secret society of vampires! And no I’m not kidding.

In the meantime, while Jesse tries her best to wrap her head around the ins and outs of the industry, she also finds herself trying desperately hard to hold on to her morals. But as she gets deeper and deeper into it, the allure of the Neon Demon starts to suck her in. Will she succumb to the ways of her peers or will she rise above it all and attain the life that she thought was possible when she first started her journey?

Refn once again delivers as he provides you with some of the most breathtaking and memorable scenes you’ll ever see in cinema. But you should just know going in that his style isn’t for everyone. There was a couple behind me that almost got up and left during quite a few of the film’s final scenes. But they were also old and had no clue what they were getting themselves into so you should just ignore their reaction.

Refn’s ideas and approach will never be described as prosaic and it’s mainly because of this that I choose to give Neon Demon a rating of pretty FRESH! I freaking loved this film!