Nicolas Winding Refn Appreciation Page

Cint said:
Drive was one of my favorites. Had so many great moments. @BenRichards

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I'm about to rent it on Amazon right now. It's a shame it's not available with Amazon Prime, though.
 
Drive is my favorite, but Valhalla Rising was absolutely riveting. It is one the strangest and most powerful films I've seen. It took me a while to come around. It has a magnetism you can't resist.
 
CerebralKnievel said:
This guy is like the hipster electronic band of filmmaking. Smoke and mirrors, lacking substance and utterly overrated. People literally love Drive because of the fucking soundtrack. Goselin is horrible in it. His presence as a quiet, humble badass is only worth laughing at.

Valhalla Rising is his only respectable film (and it was indeed quite brilliant).
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I just finished watching Drive for the first time. Honestly, I couldn't care less about the soundtrack. I didn't hate it, but it's not really my thing either. Gosling was the highlight of the movie for me. I understand that understated performances like that often go underappreciated, though. Albert Brooks got more accolades for playing a flashier supporting character in the movie. Kudos to him, but the movie is still about Gosling for me.

It reminds me of the movie The Fighter. Christian Bale was great in that movie and deserved the accolades he got, but Mark Wahlberg was also great. They both played their respective characters to a tee. Ward was an introvert and his half-brother Eklund was an extrovert. People want the flashy, extrovert performances, but that isn't always called for. Gosling played his strong, silent type character perfectly. As did Mark Wahlberg. The best actors do what works for the character, not just to fucking show off.
 
Halge said:
I just got finished watching Valhalla Rising. I dunno. It was alright, it was nice not watching a movie with fifty cuts per minute a la Transformers or Avengers for once.
But I couldn't shake the feeling I was watching a weaksauce remake of Aguirre. Nice visuals and I love the choice of environments, but besides that it was kind of pretentious and B-movieish.
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Yeah, I haven't watched VR yet, but part of what I liked about Drive was that it was an action (perhaps not pure action) movie made in the 2010s which didn't have a TON of jump-cuts in it. No CGI bullshit either.
 
Jackie Blue said:
I've only seen The Neon Demon but I enjoyed it. I thought Elle Fanning was great in that. Also Keanu Reeves in a relatively small role.
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I was surprised to see Keanu in TND. I would've given that role to some unknown actor to give him a break.
 
Cint said:
I was surprised to see Keanu in TND. I would've given that role to some unknown actor to give him a break.
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I think it probably comes down to Refn's unusual casting process. Rather than auditioning actors or watching casting tapes, he tends to pick actors he thinks would be right for the role and then talks to them, or someone he knows will suggest them, like his wife. I think it makes it a bit harder for relative unknowns to get these type of roles. I personally enjoyed seeing Keanu play such a different type of role for him, but certainly it's a role that could have gone to an un-established actor or a character actor.
 
Jackie Blue said:
I think it probably comes down to Refn's unusual casting process. Rather than auditioning actors or watching casting tapes, he tends to pick actors he thinks would be right for the role and then talks to them, or someone he knows will suggest them, like his wife. I think it makes it a bit harder for relative unknowns to get these type of roles. I personally enjoyed seeing Keanu play such a different type of role for him, but certainly it's a role that could have gone to an un-established actor or a character actor.
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It's easier to cast an actor who he knows that will give a decent performance. Still would like to see an unknown actor get a chance to make some money.
 
Cint said:
It's easier to cast an actor who he knows that will give a decent performance. Still would like to see an unknown actor get a chance to make some money.
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100% agreed. I guess every director has their own casting style, and that happens to be his. He'd probably be better off if he started auditioning and watching casting tapes more, but they tend to stick with their habits, especially when they've already tasted success.

Samgyeopsal said:

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TS forgot to mention his masterpiece Only God forgives AKA steaming pile of dogshit AKA I want my 50 bucks back. AKA I didn't get laid that night, thanks alot Nicolas.

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Jackie Blue said:
100% agreed. I guess every director has their own casting style, and that happens to be his. He'd probably be better off if he started auditioning and watching casting tapes more, but they tend to stick with their habits, especially when they've already tasted success.
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The way he makes films as well is obviously very heavily dependant on casting, the nature of characters is not really that well defined in his quite sparse scripts.
 
I’m split on his films. They are interesting, but things about each of them keep me from truly enjoying them. Valhalla Rising was too strange and slow. Drive lacks dialogue, and has a horrific on purpose sound track. Also poor choice for the actual car....again I’m sure on purpose. Neon Demon looked cool but really wasn’t...no depth. Bronson was too styled. Too many tricks for such source material that didn’t need it. Again, I didn’t hate the films....but many do, as his audience scores are never great and usually lower than critics.
 
i'll take his neon pompous hipster films over wes anderson overrrated pastel drivel any day.
 
I hated drive so idk if he's for me. Bronson and valhalla rising are both ones I've been interested in seeing though.
 
Fox by the Sea said:
i'll take his neon pompous hipster films over wes anderson overrrated pastel drivel any day.
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Perhaps a bit in terms of character which he's obviously learned to play up rather a lot to help his career but generally I tend to think his films are much more pulpish.

The biggest problem with Wes Anderson for me is that he lives in a twee middle class fantasy land.
 
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