Only God Forgives

A couple of years ago director Nicolas Winding Refn and actor Ryan Gosling teamed up to give us the brilliant film 'Drive'. They now follow it up with this decidedly different film.
There are films whose reaction to them is far more interesting than the film itself. That is definitely the case here. 'Only God Forgives' received a very mixed reaction when screened at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. It also shockingly won the jury prize at the Sydney Film Festival. It has certainly divided people in their reaction to it. Most articles you read about the film are more about the reaction than the film itself. I must say that I am firmly in the negative in my reaction to it. I don't know if I'm loosing my touch because I did not 'get' the film. I normally pride myself in being able to interpret what a film maker is trying to say with his films and understand some of the deeper meanings but I did not understand any of this film. On the surface it has a pretty standard plot of a family getting revenge for the death of one of its members but Nicolas has told it in such a way that it looks like there is supposed to be something more deep and meaningful there.  
Ryan Gosling would have to be one of the best actors working today. But not all his roles can be great. One of the biggest things I had trouble understanding with the film was Ryan's character of Julian. He says and does hardly anything in the film, so you do not get any indication of what his character thinks or feels. He is basically a blank slate. But I did not know what that meant. Vithaya Pansringarm is excellent as the ruthless cop taking revenge on this family. The lack of emotion in his character is easy to understand because he is a ruthless killer and that suits him. There is however one brilliant thing about the film and that is the performance of Kristen Scott Thomas. Normally she plays rather prim and proper ladies but here she plays a really nasty vindictive bitch. Plus being blonde means you are less likely to recognize her. You can really tell she is enjoying the role.
I'm not sure that I can recommend seeing this film except for the fact that I'd love to know what you think of it. You'd need to be fairly open minded and not expect much to happen. It is however worth seeing just for Kristen Scott Thomas's performance.