I’ve heard people say the fashion industry is carnivorous before, but it wasn’t until Nicolas Winding Refn’s The Neon Demon that I realized how savage it can be. Sure, it’s all hyperbole in the name of art, but if anyone can make hyperbole beautiful, it’s Refn. After two films starring Ryan Gosling and drenched in bright, vivid colours, Refn continues his neon-soaked visions with Elle Fanning replacing Gosling at the helm. The Neon Demon is a fantastical fairy tale seeded in the darkest, bloodiest corners of Los Angeles.
When Jesse (Fanning) moves to LA to become a professional model, she finds her rise to fame easy and effortless. Competing models look at her in disgust, photographers and stylists all want to work with her, and no one is standing in her way. The structure for this film falls somewhere between Drive and Only God Forgives, with the latter feeling like it lacks structure almost entirely while the former is very deliberately paced. When the plot wants to move, it can move at a breakneck pace (which occasionally is its worst decision), but with Refn it is often that he sits back and lets the camera linger over something beautiful. Even if it’s beautifully macabre.
I found myself often trapped in a gaze at the imagery on screen. Sometimes it is juxtaposed with extremely horrible circumstances, but other times it just highlights the appeal of the industry. Cliff Martinez’s score echoes through empty black spaces as lights flash and flicker in the backdrop. Then the model appears in the LED-lit haze, providing the centerpiece to something majestic and wholly its own. Or the camera just sits there as blood drenches the screen.
The Neon Demon is equal parts flattering and scathing to the fashion industry. By centering the tale on a young aspiring model, Refn gets to go places that will make many uncomfortable, but what makes it more shocking is how the characters feel about what is happening. These are not good people, but they sometimes have good moments. With a final scene that will either make you walk out or have your jaw on the floor, the film plays with the idea of darkness in a spectacle-filled world.
I mentioned briefly that the plot sometimes moves forward at a rapid pace, and I found those scenes to be the less engaging ones. The reason some scenes work is because the camera is willing to sit there, building tension in a tense situation. When the camera is not just sitting or slowly zooming out, it is capturing action that is generally cliché and uninteresting. It is unfortunate that The Neon Demon devolves into a thriller for a couple of scenes, especially its last instance of thriller-like qualities, because it feels like a betrayal to the film’s aesthetic storytelling.
Most of the actors seemed to all be on board for Refn’s dark styles, especially Fanning, Abbey Lee and Desmond Harrington. Fanning’s performance is captivating while at the same time extremely fragile. Meanwhile, Lee gets the best scene of the film, in my opinion, and Harrington does a great job walking the line between scumbag and fashion photographer. Jena Malone is also really good as one of Jesse’s only friends in the city of angels. Other actors include Keanu Reeves and Christina Hendricks, but both play such small roles (though Reeves is memorable when he is on screen).
The Neon Demon is why I love Refn. He is great at melding genres together to create something wholly his own and, in this case, he manages to celebrate and insult the fashion industry under the guise of a moody horror film. If Only God Forgives is Refn’s film for himself to enjoy, and Drive is his crowd-pleaser, this is him meeting everyone in the middle. But it’s still a very sinister place to be.