Obsessed with style over substance, Nicholas Winding Refn’s The Neon Demon is a narrative mess that pretends it’s a movie by adding strobe lights and slow motion
I rarely write reviews for movies that I dislike. They’re just difficult for me to write unless I dislike one passionately. Well, The Neon Demon is one of those movies. I don’t think I’ve ever watched a film so repulsively bad that I felt like I wasted my time and energy watching it.
The Neon Demon tells the “story” of Jesse (Elle Fanning), a small-town girl who came to LA with big dreams. I know, original. She pursues a job in modeling to pay the bills because her parents died. Even better. Of course, there’s something about her beauty that drives everyone in this movie universe wild. In one laughable scene during a runway audition, the designer who didn’t even give the other models the time of day looks up at her and is instantly enraptured in her beauty. Cue the eye roll.
As Jesse finds success in the town, she becomes narcissistic and self-absorbed. However, this happens out of nowhere. There’s no development. One second she’s a meek girl who thinks plastic surgery is bad and can barely contain a smile when people call her beautiful, and then in an instant becomes an arrogant and stereotypical supermodel. Refn confuses character development with these strobe light sequences that take the place of actual plot.
Some of the women in particular who feel this animosity towards Jesse are two other models, Gigi (Bella Heathcote) and Sarah (Abbey Lee), and a make-up artist, Ruby (Jena Malone) who give it their best in the film. Elle Fanning, on the other hand, feels wooden and emotionless and makes you want to see her downfall.
For a movie that seems so stylistically modern and advanced, the plot is one so simple and contrived. While it could make for an interesting critique of the modeling industry and the pressure to be more beautiful than the next girl. However, in a classic style over substance debacle, instead we see a mess of a plot. Even in moments when we’re supposed to be scared or thrilled, particularly in the tacky third act, you laugh at the absurdity.
In so many words, nothing happens for 90 minutes, then everything happens. And well, that everything involves necrophilia, cannibalism, and literal bloodbaths. However, to best summarize the movie, I’m going to let Brian say it:
“I love a movie with a lot of style. I love a movie that is unconventional. I love a movie that has layers. I do not love a movie that is 99% diluted style with 1% barely existent storyline. This movie has great elements. It was well-shot. It had great actresses and actors. It has a compelling style (in some scenes). But I was completely lost by how bedraggled and messy it all seemed to get. There is really no cohesive story. Sure, I get the metaphors for the vapid way we treat women with blatant misogyny in the fashion industry. I get all of what this movie is supposed to represent. I got it all because it was barely a metaphor. It was more slapped across your face the whole movie without a modicum of subtlety. I wanted to like this movie; I really did, but all it has to offer is dramatic shots that lead nowhere, little well-written dialogue, a ridiculous Keanu Reeves, and crass scenes that just end up repulsive and not intriguing. Polished garbage is still garbage.”
1/10
Hey, I'm Karl, founder and film critic at Smash Cut. I started Smash Cut in 2014 to share my love of movies and give a perspective I haven't yet seen represented. I'm also an editor at The New York Times, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, and a member of the Online Film Critics Society.