The Neon Demon

The Neon Demon is another dreamy L.A. thriller from the director of Drive.

3111d ago

In a tale as old as Hollywood, 16-year-old Jesse (Fanning) arrives in L.A. with dreams of a high-fashion modeling career. Staying in a run-down, but incredibly art-directed motel, run by a super-sleazy Keanu Reeves (doing what he can with what he's given), Jesse gets the help she needs in Ruby (Malone), a makeup artist with connections.

3111d ago

Nicolas Winding Refn’s superslick Neon Demon seduces and befuddles.

3111d ago

This time, Refn fetishizes femininity the way his films Drive and Only God Forgives fetishize masculinity.

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The Neon Demon works best when it leans into the darkest, black-hearted depths of the fashion industry, much like Starry Eyes did with acting and Black Swan did with ballet.

3111d ago

"The Neon Demon" only works when Refn finds the right middle ground between obliquely hinting at and explicitly spelling out what his movie's about. He constantly plumbs his id, and sometimes the results simply aren't interesting. As a result, "The Neon Demon" is often productively brash, even if it is ultimately more preposterous than it is satisfying.

3111d ago

Sixteen-year-old Jesse (Elle Fanning) arrives in Los Angeles with dreams of being a model. Encouraged by make-up artist Ruby (Jena Malone) she becomes the It Girl among high-end fashion photographers, her youthful freshness spiking the jealousies of models Gigi (Bella Heathcote) and Sarah (Abbey Lee). It can only end in tears. Or cannibalism.

3111d ago

Let me tell you all the good things about Nicolas Winding Refn's high-art, lowbrow horror film The Neon Demon before I tell you what I will not tolerate.

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There is style and chutzpah in this vampiric story of supermodel cannibals – as well as a superb central turn from Elle Fanning – yet it lacks the focus and wallop of his earlier work.

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The ending will shock just about everyone, but to what end? Neon Demon is as beautiful and empty as the industry it sends up.

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The “Drive” director’s carnivorous glam-horror starring Elle Fanning as an up-and-coming model is long on pretty poison, short on lasting provocation.

3111d ago

The most glaring proof of The Neon Demon’s failure is how stultifying it is. Although Only God Forgives’ risible attempt at elevating its sordid narrative through Freudian concepts already demonstrated Winding Refn’s severe intellectual limitations as an artist, Drive did amply prove his potential directorial prowess.

3111d ago

Nicolas Winding Refn has made a baroquely kinky gross-out surrealist horror film set in the L.A. fashion world. It's not boring, but there's less to it than meets the eyeball.

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The simmering insinuations of Nicolas Winding Refn's film eventually flower into full-on exploitation.

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By the end of the movie, Refn has toyed with cannibalism, lesbian necrophilia, the egestion of an eyeball, and other minor sports, all of them filmed in lavish taste. It’s enough to make you reflect longingly on the Agatha Christie drama that he made for British TV in 2007. Say what you like about Miss Marple, at least she merely questioned her suspects. She didn’t eat them for tea.

3111d ago

Elle Fanning stars as a teen model who stirs jealousy and desire in Nicolas Winding Refn's new thriller.

3111d ago

It’s pretty. It’s empty. It’s pretty empty.

3111d ago

‘The Neon Demon’ is only skin deep.

3111d ago

It's Elle Fanning vs. Hollywood predators in Nicolas Winding Refn's D.O.A. take on Hell-Ay.

3111d ago

The Neon Demon is hot garbage that dares you to call it offensive. In addition, it’s offensive.

3111d ago

If Refn is trying to skewer our cultural fixation with youth and good looks, his blade isn’t up to the task. The Neon Demon attacks, but indiscriminately. It’s sharp-looking but dull, hacking and plunging every which way, yet drawing no real blood.

3111d ago