Dane Refn once shocked Cannes with "Neon Demon", which received mixed reviews and caused a lot of controversy. At first glance, it feels like a strange horror film "The Wind Storm": thin characters and simple plot, set off by extremely dazzling visual design and weird soundtrack, of course, it is indeed influenced by it. After watching it, I was at a loss for words. I didn't know what to say. I only knew the life of a gorgeous model under the neon lights (and Keanu, the former savior who looked at the door, hidden in the city).
The plot is probably not much to say: the beautiful innocent country girl Jesse is caught in the glitz of Los Angeles, and is gradually swallowed by it (or literally "devoured").
Although Refn has problems with color perception, this seems to strengthen his sensitivity to color. From the beginning of the opening subtitles, he sprinkled a lot of textured neon colors, and sprinkled a lot of gold powder and sequins into the sky. Designing Jesse (Fanning Jr.) for a spooky "homicide"-themed shoot; walking through the dark bar neon to the swooning sound, to the touch-up models raving about makeup and the chaotic model scene (really The supermodel Abili also participated in the show, which happened to be a consultant), and other characters were also introduced: Ruby, who was greedy for beauty, Gigi, the beauty who had plastic surgery, and Sarah, who was worried about the end of her prime. Fanning is still unbeatable among the supermodels. After that, almost all the scenes were well designed, and the model shooting scene was full of audio-visual effects and compositional design. Under the light and shadow, the model really looked like a demon transformed from neon. It's as if Refn is immersed in his own aesthetic and presents the most gorgeous model show. Of course, always so intoxicated, it is no wonder that some critics think it is superficial and empty.
The keynote line is from the designer: "[Jessie's beauty] is as unfashionable as a diamond in a sea of glass. True beauty is the most valuable currency we have. Without beauty, she Nothing." The inner is not important, "beauty is not everything, but the only one." Combined with the "Cinebook" interview with Refn, he said, "Following my films, I immersed myself in this world, which is about beauty. , artificial and wild, dramatic and raw, overexaggerated to the point of terror.” He describes it as “a film for the future: our fascination with virtue intensifies and eventually becomes superficial.” He also directly hit back at the audience who questioned its superficiality: "They are just deceiving themselves, or they are just afraid. Because beauty is much more complicated than what people see." Fashion is not the real theme, and the chaos of "eating people" in the fashion circle is not his. designed to uncover. He even goes so far as to show, as the ending reveals, "Beauty swallows beauty, and it should be a cycle." He makes full use of the aesthetics of the digital age, showing pure beauty in splendor, flooding, and emptiness. nice. "Beauty penetrates in, turbid the visual horizon." Another aspect, as the interviewer said, "really explores digital images and their potential."
It has to be said that the film is still too avant-garde and too self-indulgent; is the real value reflected in the level of "visual art"?
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