With the summer blockbuster season just around the corner, we can expect plenty of high octane action filled with vapid characters who do asinine thing amidst backdrops of city crumbling explosions, hero shots, and contrived drama. It’s enough to turn a person off from the movies, frankly. Thankfully, there are always the gems that peak out from the rubble of brain rotting trite that typically fill theaters in those hot summer months. This season, you needn’t look much farther than The Neon Demon.
From Nicolas Winding Refn, the genius behind Drive, Only God Forgives, and Bronson, The Neon Demon tells the story of an aspiring model Jesse (Elle Fanning) who finds herself up against a group of youth obsessed woman who wish to take what she has by any and all available means.
The film looks to be filled with Refn’s trademarked eye for gorgeously framed shots and sublimated beauty punctuated by moments of extreme violence. Perhaps more than any director currently working today, Refn has a knack for making horrifying violence transcend the base to become something of an art, and that is suggested clearly by the recently released trailer for The Neon Demon.
With a cast that includes Fanning, Jena Malone, Keanu Reeves, Christina Hendricks, and Abbey Lee, The Neon Demon looks to be the perfect antidote to the normal brainless fodder that’s usually delivered to theaters over the summer months. Not that there’s anything particularly wrong with mindless entertainment, but it does get old after a time.
The Neon Demon, however, looks to be not just a gem for the season, but for the entire year. By all appearances, it’s going to be a hell of a ride through the dark recesses of not just modeling, but of our cultural obsession with youth and beauty. Based on the trailer, it looks somewhat tonally similar to Darren Aronofsky’s beautiful and difficult, Black Swan. If The Neon Demon can even hit half of the same beats that movie did, then we’re in for an amazing treat.
