The Neon Demon Review

I always thought trying to be a model in Los Angeles would be tough, but The Neon Demon showed it could be downright brutal.

The Neon Demon is directed by Nicholas Winding Refn, who directed Drive, Only God Forgives and the Pusher trilogy. The movie stars Elle Fanning as a young model named Jesse. Jesse moves to Los Angeles hoping to get into the modeling industry. While at a photo shoot she meets Ruby, played by Jena Malone. Ruby introduces Jesse to a few of her model friends who instantly become jealous of Jesse's beauty. Soon many people in the modeling industry around L.A. become memorized by Jesse's looks. After a while the attention starts to get to Jesse's head, will this noterietay be too much for Jesse to handle or will she become the next big thing in modeling?

The Neon Demon is one of those movies where I didn't really like it, but I also didn't hate it. I was never bored and I was intrigued by what I was seeing on the screen, but nothing really happened. There are a lot of scenes with just flashing lights and the films score just playing while the actors just move around on screen with no dialog.  But I really enjoyed how these scenes played out. I was interested in these visuals just because how captivating they were. It was almost like the director was trying to hypnotize me.

The problem with the film being visually interesting is that the story ended up playing second fiddle to it. It felt like the movie just goes from scene to scene without a whole lot progression. Jesse just goes about her life and tries to succeed as a model in L.A. She never really struggles, everything just goes her way without her trying. I never really cared if she succeeded or not because it just seemed so effortless. I thought Elle Fanning did a fantastic job playing Jesse, I was just never invested in the character. The other models in the movie are also not that interesting so I didn't care if Jesse was getting the modeling gigs over them. Ruby was at least a little interesting because she seemed both interested in being friends with Jesse but also jealous of her success. I enjoyed the journey of trying to figure who the real Ruby was and what would become of her friendship with Jesse.

The final 30 minutes of The Neon Demon were extremely jarring given how the first three quarters of the movie played out. I won't go into details on what happened, but I was glad I was the only one in the theater while watching this movie. I yelled "What the f***?" at least 5 times in that last 30 minutes. I couldn't believe what I was seeing on the screen. This last bit of the movie will definitely scare off the average movie goer.

The Neon Demon is not for everyone, in fact I know a lot of people will probably hate this film, especially because of the last 30 minutes. It's a visually stunning film that is lacking a lot in the story. The characters were never that interesting so I didn't care if they succeeded or failed. If you are a fan of Nicolas Winding Refn's previous films or just enjoy watching movies that are visually a little different than your average movie, I would say check this movie out. If you are more interested in a solid story or can't handle things going very batshit crazy, then skip this movie.