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The Neon Demon

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The Neon Demon
Theatrical release poster
Directed byNicolas Winding Refn
Screenplay by
  • Mary Laws
  • Nicolas Winding Refn
  • Polly Stenham
Story byNicolas Winding Refn
Starring
CinematographyNatasha Braier
Edited byMatthew Newman
Music byCliff Martinez
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 20 May 2016 (2016-05-20) (Cannes)
  • 8 June 2016 (2016-06-08) (France)
  • 9 June 2016 (2016-06-09) (Denmark)
  • 24 June 2016 (2016-06-24) (United States)
Running time
117 minutes[1]
Countries
  • France
  • Denmark
  • United States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$7 million[2]
Box office$566,564[3]

The Neon Demon is a 2016 internationally co-produced psychological thriller film directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and co-written by Mary Laws and Refn and starring Elle Fanning, Christina Hendricks and Keanu Reeves. The plot follows an aspiring model in Los Angeles whose beauty and youth place her in significant danger amongst the women she becomes associated with in the industry, who are murderous and dangerous.

In April 2016, it was announced that the film would compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival,[4][5] making the film the third consecutive film directed by Refn to compete for the Palme d'Or, following Drive and Only God Forgives.

Plot

The movie is about a young and aspiring model called Jesse (Elle Fanning) who has just moved to Los Angeles. She is an orphan, very beautiful and impresses everyone she meets with her beauty. She seems very shy and insecure about her looks, even though she wants to make a big career in the fashion industry. Right at her first photoshoot she meets the make up artist Ruby. Ruby introduces her to two of her model friends called Sarah and Gigi at a surrealistic dim lit party. Soon after Jesse gets signed by an important model agency. Her agency sends her to a test shoot with a notable photographer who closes down the set after he sees her, tells her to strip down naked and colors her golden with his bare hands before taking pictures of her. Jesse comes home to the motel she stays in but finds her apartment in a mess and something strange moving in it. She asks the manager (Keanu Reeves) to help her but he turns out to be a rude and offensive man that makes her pay for the damages to her room even after it turns out that a wild cat had gotten in and was the culprit.

Jesse goes to a casting where Ruby's friend Sarah is also present. The fashion designer is passive and uninterested in everyone until Jesse stands in front of him. He is so fascinated with her that it makes Sarah cry. She gets hired right away and is later asked to be the highlight of his fashion show. After the casting, Jesse encounters Sarah in the bathroom who asks her how it feels when everyone is always noticing you and admiring your beauty. Jesse answers to that "It's everything". She accidentally cuts herself on a glass and instead of helping her, Sarah tries to drink the blood that is pouring from the wound. After the fashion show Jesse goes to the motel in an excited and satisfied mood. She has a vivid dream of the motel manager coming into her room and making her swallow a knife in a violent manner. She wakes up in shock only to hear him actually trying to enter her apartment. She is able to lock the door so he moves on to the room next door to rape her neighbor.

Jesse hears the violent sounds and screaming through the wall but instead of calling the police she calls Ruby. Ruby asks her to come to her for safety. After showering and calming down in Ruby's luxurious mansion, Ruby tries to seduce Jesse forcefully but Jesse resists and pushes her to the floor. Ruby, who is also working in a morgue, doing make up for funerals, is later shown pleasuring herself with a female corpse while thinking about Jesse. In the meantime Jesse dresses up in an evening gown and extravagant make up and waits for Ruby at the mansion in a theatrical manner, standing on the springboard above the empty pool. She is holding a monologue about her beauty and how women would kill to look like her but that everyone can only ever become a second rated version of her. Ruby smiles and when Jesse enters the house again she encounters Gigi and Sarah, and is brutally attacked by them. They chase her through the house. At the pool again the women together with Ruby form a triangle around Jesse and Ruby pushes her into the empty pool where she lies in her blood, dying. Shortly after, the three women are seen bathing and showering in Jesse's blood - to refresh their beauty. At a photoshoot where Gigi and Sarah are cast as models Gigi suddenly falls ill and has to leave the set. Sarah finds her later desperately trying to throw up. She finally manages to throw up one of Jesse´s eyes, screaming "I have to get her out of me" - she grabs some scissors and begins stabbing herself in the stomach. She dies right away but instead of being shocked or calling for help Sarah reaches down slowly, picks up Jesse´s eye and swallows it.

Cast

Production

Director Nicolas Winding Refn promoting the film at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

On November 3, 2014, Refn's production company Space Rocket Nation alongside its co-financiers Gaumont Film Company and Wild Bunch announced that Refn's next film would be titled The Neon Demon, to be filmed in Los Angeles, California in early 2015.[6]

In January 2015, Dazed reported that the script for the film was inspired by Elizabeth Báthory.[7] In discussing the script, which Refn co-wrote with Mary Laws, he stated: "I decided that I’d made enough films about violent men, and I wanted to do a film with only women in the film, and so I did this story because my wife would only go to L.A. if we had to travel out of Copenhagen. She’s like, ‘I’m done with Asia. I will only do Los Angeles.’ And so I came up with an idea and went to L.A., and I cast this woman called Elle Fanning who is absolutely fantastic, and she played the lead."[8]

Casting

Star Elle Fanning at the Cannes Film Festival.

On January 6, 2015, Elle Fanning joined the film to play an aspiring model, caught in a world of beauty and demise.[9] On January 29, Abbey Lee Kershaw was added to the cast to play the role of Sarah.[10] On February 5, more cast was added to the film, including Keanu Reeves, Christina Hendricks, Jena Malone and Bella Heathcote.[11] On March 17, 2015, Karl Glusman was set to star in the film.[12] Desmond Harrington was added to the cast on March 30, 2015.[13]

Filming

Principal photography on the film began in Los Angeles on March 30, 2015.[14][15]

Soundtrack

Composer Cliff Martinez, who collaborated with director Refn on Drive, stated the films have similar styles, musically speaking, noting that for The Neon Demon he sought a "sparse electronic score."[16] stated in an interview that the first half of the film resembles "a melodrama like Valley of the Dolls, and the second half is like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre."[16] The soundtrack for the film will be released on June 24, 2016, physically and through digital download, before being released on Vinyl on July 8, 2016, by Milan Records.[17] Sia composed an original song for the film titled Waving Goodbye.[18] On 24 May 2016 at the Cannes Soundtrack 2016 awards, Cliff Martinez was recognised best composer of the Cannes film festival for his soundtrack to The Neon Demon.[19]

Release

In November 2015, Amazon Studios acquired U.S distribution rights to the film.[20] Broad Green Pictures is partnering with Amazon on the films theatrical release.[21] The Jokers will distribute the film in France.[20] Scanbox Entertainment will distribute the film in Denmark.[22]

The film had its world premiere at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2016.[4][5][23] It was released in France on June 8, 2016.[24] It was then released in Denmark on June 9.[22] It will be released in the United States on June 24, 2016.[25][26]

Critical response

The Neon Demon received mixed reviews from film critics.[27][28] It holds a 46% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 35 reviews, with an average rating of 5.6/10.[29] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 57 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[30]

Owen Gleiberman of Variety gave the film a positive review writing : "A horror film is what The Neon Demon is (sort of). It’s set in the Los Angeles fashion world, and it’s the kind of movie in which models look like mannequins that look like slasher-film corpses, and corpses look like love objects. Beauty mingles with mangled flesh, and each fastidiously slick image seems to have come out of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me or The Shining or a very sick version of a Calvin Klein commercial. Every scene, every shot, every line of dialogue, every pause is so hypnotically composed, so luxuriously overdeliberate, that the audience can’t help but assume that Refn knows exactly what he’s doing — that he’s setting us up for the kill."[31]

References

  1. ^ "The Neon Demon (18)". British Board of Film Classification. 6 June 2016. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  2. ^ Leigh, Danny (12 May 2016). "'Movie blood tastes so good' – on The Neon Demon set with Nicolas Winding Refn". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  3. ^ "The Neon Demon". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  4. ^ a b "2016 Cannes Film Festival Announces Lineup". IndieWire. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  5. ^ a b "Cannes 2016: Film Festival Unveils Official Selection Lineup". Variety. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  6. ^ "Nordisk Film & TV Fond :: Nicolas Winding Refn Readies Danish/French Horror Tale". Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  7. ^ Taylor, Trey (January 2015). "Five things we know about Nicolas Winding Refn's new film". Dazed. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  8. ^ Shaw-Williams, H. (7 September 2015). "Nicolas Winding Refn on The Neon Demon's Female-Dominated Cast". Screen Rant. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  9. ^ Sneider, Jeff (6 January 2015). "Elle Fanning to Star in Nicolas Winding Refn's Horror Movie 'Neon Demon' (Exclusive)". thewrap.com. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  10. ^ Fleming Jr, Mike (29 January 2015). "Nicolas Winding Refn Sets Abbey Lee To Star In 'Neon Demon'". deadline.com. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  11. ^ Keslassy, Elsa (5 February 2015). "Keanu Reeves, Christina Hendricks Join Cast of Nicolas Refn's 'The Neon Demon'". variety.com. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  12. ^ Kroll, Justin (17 March 2015). "Karl Glusman Signs With WME; Joins Nic Refn's 'The Neon Demon'". variety.com. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  13. ^ McNary, Dave (30 March 2015). "Desmond Harrington Joins Elle Fanning in 'Neon Demon'". variety.com. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  14. ^ "On the Set for 3/30/15: Brad Pitt, Christian Bale & Ryan Gosling Start on 'The Big Short', Julianne Moore Wraps 'Maggie's Plan' & More". ssninsider.com. 30 March 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  15. ^ Lesnick, Silas (30 March 2015). "Production Begins on Nicolas Winding Refn's The Neon Demon". comingsoon.net. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  16. ^ a b Miska, Brad (15 March 2016). "'The Neon Demon' Is 'Valley of the Dolls' Meets 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'?!". Bloody-Disgusting. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  17. ^ Jaugernauth, Kevin (12 April 2016). "Full Soundtrack Details Revealed For Nicolas Winding Refn's 'The Neon Demon,' Summer Release Scheduled". Indiewire.com. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  18. ^ Evangelista, Chris (12 April 2016). "Soundtrack Details and Release Date Info for Nicholas Winding Refn's The Neon Demon Revealed". Cut Print Film. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  19. ^ "Cliff Martinez – Best composer of Cannes Soundtrack 2016 | Cannessoundtrack". cannessoundtrack.com. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  20. ^ a b Evry, Max (9 November 2015). "Amazon Acquires The Neon Demon, Plus New Elle Fanning Image". comingsoon.net. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  21. ^ Hipes, Patrick (10 May 2016). "Amazon's 'The Neon Demon' U.S. Release Date Set As Broad Green Comes Aboard". Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  22. ^ a b "The Neon Demon". Scanbox Entertainment. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  23. ^ "Screenings Guide - 2016 Cannes Film Festival" (PDF). 16 May 2016.
  24. ^ Hayes, Britt (10 April 2016). "'The Neon Demon' Reveals New Image and Fantastic Posters From Nicolas Winding Refn's Latest". ScreenCrush.com. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  25. ^ Staff, Variety (14 April 2016). "'Neon Demon' Trailer: First Look at Nicolas Winding Refn's Horror Film". Variety. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  26. ^ Lowman, Rob (28 April 2016). "See all the 2016 summer movies". OcRegister.com. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  27. ^ Nordine, Michael. "'The Neon Demon' First Reactions: Walkouts, Yelling at the Screen and a Five-Star Review in Cannes". Indiewire. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
  28. ^ Barkan, Jonathan (19 May 2016). "'The Neon Demon' Was Booed at Cannes". Bloody-Disgusting.com. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  29. ^ "The Neon Demon (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  30. ^ "The Neon Demon reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
  31. ^ Gleiberman, Owen (19 May 2016). "Cannes Film Review: 'The Neon Demon'". Retrieved 21 May 2016.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Neon_Demon&oldid=725745614"