It is a mistake to consider this a film about the "evil fashion industry" ruining some innocent country girl. That is not it. That is not the demon. We get to see quite some Neon alright - a half-colour that appears to carry from fashion and art all the way to dystopian dreams of artificial sheep. It goes well with mirrors. What is the demon though?
It's her. She herself pledges guilty. She is dangerous and destructive, sowing sorrow and despair. Although she appears to not do much of anything, everything revolves around her still. The appeal of innocence, mouldability and availability is more decisive than her beauty. Her charms lie in awakened desires that are not to be fulfilled. Like Helena, like the written "Calista", she doesn't do anything but rather inspires evil in others.
She is victorious. Her essence is contained, spreads its evil seed further and further in consumption.
Now this is all pretty neat but is it really the message here? Impressive images are sparsely provided with content, showing that this film was genuinely meant to offer a certain depth while not really closing a container to hold anything. An Abyss? In any case a rather vague series of expressions. The stronger these expressions become the more it feels like a bucking bull ride rather than an arrow in true flight.
If his vision is so great I'd consider it sin to not commit further, to not make it digestible to a reasonable degree. Perhaps Nicolas Winding Refn can see far. However: he's not very good at showing his findings to others I am afraid. Hardly any film had so many shallow and obviously wrong interpretations in its reviews, just like hardly any film fails as hard to make a point and get it transmitted. Even if I managed to shed some light here - this is the bare bones, no more. Is there any purpose, any love in these ideas? Is this film good? Yes: there is art in this. The Neon Demon appeals to our hidden desires, to some kind of half-natural animal inside ourselves, in its neon images. It does not leave me satisfied at all. Who knows? Perhaps I am not even supposed to be. Perhaps this film is just as demonic as is its subject.
"You must have a cigarette. A cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied." - Oscar Wilde
It's her. She herself pledges guilty. She is dangerous and destructive, sowing sorrow and despair. Although she appears to not do much of anything, everything revolves around her still. The appeal of innocence, mouldability and availability is more decisive than her beauty. Her charms lie in awakened desires that are not to be fulfilled. Like Helena, like the written "Calista", she doesn't do anything but rather inspires evil in others.
She is victorious. Her essence is contained, spreads its evil seed further and further in consumption.
Now this is all pretty neat but is it really the message here? Impressive images are sparsely provided with content, showing that this film was genuinely meant to offer a certain depth while not really closing a container to hold anything. An Abyss? In any case a rather vague series of expressions. The stronger these expressions become the more it feels like a bucking bull ride rather than an arrow in true flight.
If his vision is so great I'd consider it sin to not commit further, to not make it digestible to a reasonable degree. Perhaps Nicolas Winding Refn can see far. However: he's not very good at showing his findings to others I am afraid. Hardly any film had so many shallow and obviously wrong interpretations in its reviews, just like hardly any film fails as hard to make a point and get it transmitted. Even if I managed to shed some light here - this is the bare bones, no more. Is there any purpose, any love in these ideas? Is this film good? Yes: there is art in this. The Neon Demon appeals to our hidden desires, to some kind of half-natural animal inside ourselves, in its neon images. It does not leave me satisfied at all. Who knows? Perhaps I am not even supposed to be. Perhaps this film is just as demonic as is its subject.
"You must have a cigarette. A cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied." - Oscar Wilde