The Neon Demon

A SCREEN ZEALOTS REVIEW www.screenzealots.com

LOUISA SAYS:

What…did I….just watch?

Not for the uninitiated or those with weak stomachs, everyone’s favorite polarizing surrealist director Nicolas Winding Refn is back with the lurid, gory, sadistic, and horrifyingly beautiful “The Neon Demon.” This film makes a bold statement about the shallowness of Hollywood and the fashion industry in the most violent, brutal, bloody and disturbing way possible.

The film’s strength is in its breathtaking visuals. Refn once again establishes himself as a true auteur at the top of the visionary food chain. Even if you are one of the many who see him as pompous and pretentious, there’s no denying that few have quite the mastery of the craft of the visual arts as he does. This film belongs in a modern art museum.

It doesn’t matter that there’s not much of a plot: teenage ingénue Jesse (Elle Fanning) moves to Los Angeles to chase her dreams of becoming a model. She soon finds herself living in a sketchy motel with lecherous landlord Hank (Keanu Reeves) and surrounded by the seductive Ruby (Jena Malone), Gigi (Bella Heathcote) and Sarah (Abbey Lee), a pack of shallow, jealous, beauty-obsessed women. It’s hard to evaluate the performances since most consist of nothing more than striking and holding a pose or staring longingly into a mirror, but I do think that Reeves has one of the greatest (if small) roles of his career.

There’s no escaping the true debate this movie presents: is this a shrewd feminist manifesto or is it grossly misogynistic? It’s taken me three days to reflect on this and I’ve decided that it sways towards the former rather than the latter.

First, the film celebrates the female form; the women in the film are beautiful set dressings, designed to be admired (and not treated solely as sexual objects). Yes, the women are one-dimensional but at the same time, that works as a harsh criticism of the narcissism that’s so prevalent in the fashion industry....

I don't really foresee The Neon Demon becoming my personal all time favourite film, but from a purely aesthetics point of view, it might just be the best movie I've ever seen.

Final rating:★★★★½ - An all round great movie and a whole lot more.

It's not anymore a competitive world, but jealousy!

It started off very well and in the half mark, it completely lost. In the initial part, it looked like a normal film and then I think even the writer does not know what could happen, they just improvised with whatever they had. Writing was totally messed up. When they had the great characters, it becomes nothing in the end. I'm not a fan of this director, and all his films are average, but this one is the worst among them.

I'm not an art film hater, though I hate wasting scenes without any developments and this one had many like them. If you trim them all out, the overall film is around 45 minutes. The rest of the film was just music, colourful lights, and sometimes totally idle, which definitely drag the viewers to the boredom.

Whenever there was a scene with the story, like dialogues and developments, I thought it was going well. But then those useless, dialogueless segments turned me off. Especially the conclusion was absolutely crap. Elle was good, like a character made for her. Keanu Reeve was useless, his addition was just a marketing strategy that did not click.

This is the story of a teen girl aspiring to be a model, but surrounded by the jealousy people because of her fast growth. How it all goes between them and in the fashion world is what the film talks. The film is watchable, but mostly the second half onwards it gets boring. In the end, I don't think anyone would be satisfied completely with their watch, maybe very, very few, but if you consider the majority, this does not deserve to be suggested.

3/10

Awesome up til the climax. Goes from a guts-deep analysis of 1) narcissism and its development, 2) the horrors of fashion culture to a by-the-numbers "wow figure out the mystery wow" thriller. Turn it off when there's 30 minutes left and it'll be your film of the year

I honestly don’t know if I loved this movie or hated it.

I would describe it as beautiful and emotional, which would match my description of a piece of art.

This probably calls for another screening…

I found there to be something pruriently distasteful about this look at the modelling industry. Perhaps that was Nicolas Winding Refn's intention as he introduces us to sixteen year old aspirational model "Jesse" (Elle Fanning). Her arrival in Los Angeles sees her land on her feet to a certain extent as photographer "Dean" (Karl Glusman) takes some photographs for circulation. They date, after a fashion, and as she lives from her grotty hotel room under the guise of seedy landlord "Hank" (Keanu Reeves) she gradually spreads her wings before alighting on the star-maker "Jack" (Desmond Harrington) who sees something in her appearance that escapes a few of her older and more experienced rivals - like "Sarah" (Abby Lee). It turns out that "Dean" is actually quite a decent lad, and when he sees the choices she is making in her determination to climb the greasy pole decides to take a back seat. Now, the increasingly faux-confident young woman finds herself immersed in a culture that is as dog-eat-dog as it is glamorous, and it's going to test her mettle and her judgement if she is to emerge anywhere near unscathed from a series of toxic, borderline horrific, scenarios. I must admit that I found there something oddly sterile about this film. I felt as if I was observing something exploitative, certainly, but also something in which all the characters - regardless of their maturity - were just as complicit in the duplicity and treachery that is only really bucked by the lesbian make-up artist "Ruby" (Jena Malone) who has somehow managed to keep some semblance of a sane head on her shoulders and who attempts to provide some sort of anchor for a "Jesse" who is struggling to identify, let alone assert, her true self. I thought Fanning's performance reminded me a little of Nastassia Kinski's from "Paris, Texas" (1984) but without the potency and with a surfeit of dialogue and paucity of activity here, I just wasn't emotionally moved at all.

The Neon Demon is a breathtakingly classy, visually intoxicating masterpiece that operates as a hypnotic descent into the dark, predatory underbelly of the high-fashion industry. From its opening frames, the film establishes an immaculate, high-art aesthetic defined by striking symmetry, neon-drenched lighting, and a chillingly sophisticated atmosphere that keeps the viewer completely transfixed. Every single composition is crafted with uncompromising precision, allowing its luxurious visual language and a mesmerizing score to carry the profound weight of the experience.

The tone moves with a deliberate, haunting intensity, blending intoxicating beauty with unsettling psychological depth. The performances are remarkably striking and composed, perfectly capturing a cold, elegant alienation that elevates the material far beyond conventional storytelling. It treats its provocative themes with daring intellectual confidence, functioning as a razor-sharp, hypnotic critique of vanity, obsession, and the consuming nature of worship. It stands as a rare, uncompromising work of cinematic art that lingers in the mind with an unforgettable, haunting elegance.