The Neon Demon
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The Neon Demon |
| Original title | The Neon Demon |
| Country of production |
France , Denmark , USA |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2016 |
| length | 117 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Nicolas Winding Refn |
| script | Nicolas Winding Refn, Mary Laws , Polly Stenham |
| production | Nicolas Winding Refn, Lene Børglum , Sidonie Dumas , Vincent Maraval |
| music | Cliff Martinez |
| camera | Natasha Braier |
| cut | Matthew Newman |
| occupation | |
| |
The Neon Demon is a horror thriller directed by Nicolas Winding Refn , which premiered on May 20, 2016 at the 2016 Cannes International Film Festival , where the film also competed for the Palme d' Or. The film was released in German cinemas on June 23, 2016. The film is set in the fashion world of Los Angeles .
action
Jesse, a young and aspiring model , has just moved to Los Angeles . During her first photo session , she met the make-up artist Ruby, whom she introduced to the two models Sarah and Gigi. The two friends immediately recognize a threat to their own catwalk bookings from the new, young competitor. Jesse signs with an important modeling agency . At the behest of the agency manager, the 16-year-old now has to pretend to be 19. For the first test shots, she is sent to a well-known photographer who closes the photo studio when he sees Jesse so that he can take pictures undisturbed by her. He wants her to undress to paint her with gold paint. When Jesse returns to her motel room, she finds it ransacked. It turns out that a cougar did this. Apparently Jesse's attraction also attracted him. However, the motel owner Hank refuses to help her and demands that Jesse pay for the damage herself.
The next day, Jesse goes to a casting where she meets Sarah again. The fashion designer isn't interested in any of the models until he sees Jesse. He hires her straight away and wants her to be the highlight of his fashion show. Sarah is devastated and bursts into tears. After the casting, Sarah asks Jesse what it is like to always be admired for her beauty. Jesse explains that all of this means to her. When Jesse accidentally cuts herself on a piece of glass, Sarah begins to drink her blood instead of helping her. A nightmare in which Hank plays an essential role illustrates the strong desire created by Jesse's beauty. She wakes up when Hank actually tries to break into her apartment. Jesse locks the door but overhears Hank raping her neighbor. Jesse doesn't know what to do and flees to Ruby, who is looking after a big house. Ruby makes her sexual advances that Jesse ignores. Offended, Ruby joins Gigi and Sarah. Jesse now becomes the persecuted and ultimately the victim.
During a later photo shoot, Gigi suddenly doesn't feel well. Sarah finds her in a bathroom and watches as Gigi tries to get Jesse out of her body and starts stabbing herself in the stomach with scissors. Sarah waits for Gigi to bleed to death and eats Jesse's eyeball that Gigi has spat out. At the end of the day, Sarah walks through barren wasteland towards sunset.
production
Staff and cast
The Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn directed the film . The British Polly Stenham had originally worked on the script with Refn. Later, the somewhat unknown author Mary Laws took over her work.
Elle Fanning starred as model Jesse. The actress was 16 years old at the time. The roles of friends Gigi and Sarah were cast with Bella Heathcote and Abbey Lee . Jena Malone plays the makeup artist Ruby in the film. Keanu Reeves took on the role of motel owner Hank.
Filming, costumes and make-up
Filming began on March 30, 2015 in Los Angeles , the main location of the film. This is where the filming took place on Hollywood Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard , where a scene with Gigi and Sarah in the Brite Spot Diner on Echo Park was filmed. In May 2015, filming continued at the Paramour Mansion (also known as the Canfield-Moreno Estate ) in Silver Lake . The large, eccentric Mediterranean-style villa was built in 1923 by oil heiress Daisy Canfield and her husband Antonio Moreno , a silent movie star. The property was used for a series of film shoots after the death of Canfield, who had a fatal accident ten years after moving into the villa, including the horror film Scream 3 in 2000 . Some scenes were shot in the basement of the building, others in the villa's garden. For the recordings that were shot by the pool of the Paramour Mansion, this was filled with cardboard boxes for security reasons.
Some recordings were made in the nocturnal alleys of the Hollywood Hills above Hollywood. A photoshoot shown in the film was shot on a modern beach house against the backdrop of the beach in the city of Malibu , near Los Angeles .
Further shots were taken around the Bristol Salt Flats of Amboy , a small desert town near Dry Lake in California's Mojave Desert , and at the Pasada Motel in the city of Pasadena east of Los Angeles , which is Jesse's Motel in the film. The towns on the legendary Route 66 are in stark contrast to the neon-lit streets and glamor of Los Angeles. The dramaturgical use of these opposites is due to Refn's preference for motels of this type.
Other deliberately used contrasts are also shown in the film in scenes in which the film slides into complete abstraction and the figures move in completely white or black spaces. An example of this is the audition for a fashion designer shown after the first quarter of the film, which depicts a crucial moment in the film when Jesse enters a white room and all eyes are on her and takes a seat on one of the many chairs. This scene is exhausted to the extreme and, as in other scenes in the film, stretched out with provocative slowness. According to Refn, the fact that the actresses in this scene only wear underwear corresponds to real practice, according to which models in such castings are degraded and viewed as a kind of prop.
The Argentinian Natasha Braier acted as camerawoman . Much of the film was shot at a frame rate of 60 frames per second. The total cost of production was around $ 7 million.
The costumes that play a major role in the film were designed by Erin Benach or selected from the collections of well-known fashion brands, or Benach was inspired by them. The top and the skirt in the color electric blue come from the spring 2015 collection by Emporio Armani , other items of clothing from the spring 2015 collection designed by Hedi Slimane for Yves Saint Laurent . The costume designer had already worked with Refn for the 2011 film Drive . Following The Neon Demon , Benach worked as a costume designer for the film Loving .
The make-up and hairstyling in the film was done by Erin Ayanian. Her task was to transform the actresses who work as models in the film, to put on make-up, to do their hair and to apply body paint to them for some scenes. Fanning, who said she had never worn so much makeup before, was given sticky lashes and stripes of gold applied to her face. According to Ayanian, the idea behind this was that Jesse in the film is an initially simple-minded girl who came to Los Angeles to become a model, but her reddened face is so alienated by the make-up artists that Jesse doesn't feel like herself anymore. Ayanian simply used a sun blocker for Jesse's alabaster skin. Her fair complexion, created in this way, ensured that the film blood and the corresponding colored body make-up could stand out well against her skin, for example at the beginning of the film when Jesse was lying on a divan in a scene splattered with blood The pallor of her skin contrasts with the vivid red.
Film music
For the film music, Refn worked for the third time with the composer Cliff Martinez .
The soundtrack for the film consists of 23 pieces and was released in digital version and on CD on June 24, 2016. On July 8, 2016, the soundtrack was also released on vinyl. The soundtrack also includes some pop songs by other composers. The power ballad Waving Goodbye was sung by the Australian singer-songwriter Sia , who she recorded with the musician Diplo . The song Mine is by Julian Winding , the singer and songwriter of the Danish indie band Sweet Tempest , the director's nephew and son of the actress Brigitte Nielsen . Winding had already written and sung the title Disconnected in the soundtrack of Refn's last film Only God Forgives . The soundtrack reached in 2016 ranked 11th in July the US Billboard soundtrack album charts and at the same time with 15th place in the soundtrack album charts in the United Kingdom, its highest placement.
Randall Colburn of Consequence of Sound describes Martinez's music as eerie, dazzling and melodic than that of the previous films. Colburn sees a distinct influence from John Carpenter's Lost Themes , there is something wonderfully intergalactic in Martinez's music. Much of the music, according to Colburn, is pushed too much into the foreground instead of underlining the film. Starting with the scary theme song, through enjoyable 80s pop songs to the swinging madness in the song Runaway , the music presents itself more as an independent work than as a cinematic accompaniment. Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter considers the score, especially the song Waving Goodbye sung by Sia, to be Oscar-worthy. At the Cannes Film Festival in February 2016, Cliff Martinez was honored for his work as best film composer. In December 2016, Martinez's soundtrack was included in the list of candidates (longlist) from which the members of the Academy selected the official nominations as a candidate for the 2017 Academy Awards in the category Best Film Music . The song Waving Goodbye on the soundtrack and sung by Sia was included in the longlist for Best Movie Song .
Marketing and Publishing
In June 2016 in the autumn edition of the fashion magazine appeared V a photo series with actress Elle Fanning . On the front cover of this issue, Fannings was shown alone, on an alternate front cover she was shown with fellow actors Abbey Lee and Bella Heathcote .
The film premiered on May 20, 2016 as part of the 2016 Cannes International Film Festival in the presence of Fanning and Refn, where it also competed for the Palme d' Or. The film was released in German cinemas on June 23, 2016. On October 27, 2016, the film was presented at the Tokyo International Film Festival and in November 2016 at the International Film Festival of India .
synchronization
The film was set to music at the Cinephon . Stefan Ludwig wrote the dialogue book, Harald Wolff directed the dialogue.
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Jesse | Elle Fanning | Stella Sommerfeld |
| Ruby | Jena Malone | Janin Stenzel |
| Sarah | Abbey Lee Kershaw | Olivia Büschken |
| Gigi | Bella Heathcote | Leonie Dubuc |
| Roberta | Christina Hendricks | Debora refuses |
| Hank | Keanu Reeves | Benjamin Völz |
| Jack | Desmond Harrington | Marcus Off |
| Mikey | Charles Baker | Marlon Rosenthal |
| dean | Karl Glusmann | Bastian Sierich |
| Robert | Alessandro Nivola | Axel Malzacher |
reception
Age rating
In Germany, where the film is rated FSK 16, the release certificate says: “The film is staged in a deliberately artfully exaggerated, sometimes surreal style. He also deals with provocative and taboo topics such as necrophilia , sexual abuse and cannibalism . However, these are never presented as an end in themselves or intrusively. Some moments are frightening and of a certain drastic quality, but will not seem overwhelming for young people from the age of 16, especially since the stylized staging creates an emotional distance. "
Reviews
The film was able to convince 59 percent of the critics at Rotten Tomatoes (of 252 critics in total, as of February 17, 2020). On Metacritic , the film received a score of 51 out of 45 reviews. From the French film magazine Cahiers du cinema was The Neon Demon in the top 10 best films of the year received.
Owen Gleiberman of Variety describes The Neon Demon as a baroque-tangled, disgusting-surrealist horror film . The film is not boring, but has little to offer that catches the eye. Gleiberman also speaks of a grand finale, which he describes as a catharsis of disgust .
Dietmar Dath from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung describes: "It's about things that leave the body speechless, impressions that are stronger than words, and touching the extremes of the beautiful and the ugly." Dath thinks the film has become quite misogynistic, Among other things, because the director repeatedly slips on the most chewed-off clichés about frustrated quasi-silbic narcissists . The film then start up but again and again and ultimately will not go crashing to the ground as Passion by Brian De Palma , whom he describes as compared in some respects as a "psycho-nonsense".
Lukas Stern from SPIEGEL ONLINE recognizes a tension in the film compared to other Refn films such as Drive and Only God Forgives , which these earlier works did not bring about, but only promised. The filmmaker achieves this through a self-sufficiency that is locked to the outside world on all fronts. Stern says: "A cinema that doesn't want anything but itself. A selfish cinema that only finds itself beautiful, that cannot see enough of itself, so much that it almost suffocates itself."
Hanns-Georg Rodek from DIE WELT calls The Neon Demon the temporary climax of the winding refnism, and the film repels most viewers and fascinates them at the same time: "Each of his pictures is so cleverly composed that you can hardly look away." Refn drive, according to Rodek, the bloodless beauty of models to deathly rigidity and try to make corpses palatable as objects of desire. However, according to Rodek, this is a provocation that the Splatterkino actually uses, but the film also tries to be an art cinema at the same time , which, however, fails because the dominance of the will to style covers up any remains of substance.
Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter saw a lot of potential in the film for possible nominations for the 2017 Academy Awards . Feinberg considered not only Natasha Braier's camera work, but also the production design by Elliott Hostetter , Matthew Newman as film editor, the costume design by Erin Benach and the visual effects to be Oscar-worthy.
Grossing results
The film only grossed $ 1.3 million in North American cinemas. In other countries, a total of roughly the same amount could be brought in (as of December 7, 2016).
Awards (selection)
Atlanta Film Critics Society Awards 2016
- Award for the best film music ( Cliff Martinez )
BloodGuts UK Horror Awards 2016
- Award for the best soundtrack (Cliff Martinez)
- Nomination for Best Supporting Actress ( Jena Malone )
California on Location Awards 2015
- Award as Location Team of the Year - Independent feature films
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 2016
- Nomination for best film music (Cliff Martinez)
- Nomination in the category Best Production Design
- Received the Soundtrack Award for Best Film Composer (Cliff Martinez)
- Nomination for the Golden Palm ( Nicolas Winding Refn )
- Nomination for the Queer Palm (Nicolas Winding Refn)
International Film Music Critics Association Awards 2016
- Nomination for best music for a fantasy, science fiction or horror film (Cliff Martinez)
Online Film Critics Society Awards 2017
- Nomination for Best Cinematography ( Natasha Braier )
- Nomination (inclusion in the shortlist) for the best make-up and hairstyling
Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards 2016
- Nomination for best film music (Cliff Martinez)
Web links
- The Neon Demon in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Neon Demon in the German dubbing file
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for The Neon Demon . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; test number: 160181 / K).
- ↑ Danny Leigh: 'Movie blood tastes so good' - on The Neon Demon set with Nicolas Winding Refn In: The Guardian, May 12, 2016.
- ↑ Thomas Porwol: 'Drive' director Nicolas Winding Refn gets lost in the intrigues and superficialities of the fashion world In: musikexpress.de, June 23, 2016.
- ↑ Silas Lesnick. Production Begins on Nicolas Winding Refn's The Neon Demon In: comingsoon.net, March 30, 2015.
- ↑ a b Danny Leigh: 'Movie blood tastes so good' - on The Neon Demon set with Nicolas Winding Refn In: The Guardian, May 12, 2016.
- ↑ Andrew O'Hehir: Is 'The Neon Demon' gruesome misogyny or brilliant feminist commentary? Can it be both? In: salon.com, June 13, 2016.
- ↑ Abbey Lee Kershaw on 'The Neon Demon' Set in Malibu In: thefrontrowview.com. Retrieved December 4, 2016.
- ↑ Silas Lesnick: The Neon Demon takes a haunting descent into narcissisism and even Nicolas Winding Refn isn't sure how it's going to end In: comingsoon.net, June 16, 2016.
- ^ Rüdiger Suchsland: The Neon Demon In: artechock.de. Retrieved December 4, 2016.
- ↑ Every Scene in The Neon Demon Should Have Looked Like This In: advers.io, June 29, 2016.
- ↑ Danny Leigh: 'Movie blood tastes so good' - on The Neon Demon set with Nicolas Winding Refn In: The Guardian, May 12, 2016.
- ↑ Kenji Lloyd: Nicolas Winding Refn Shooting The Neon Demon at 60 Frames Per Second In: finalreel.co.uk, May 15, 2015.
- ↑ Elena Fishman: The Neon Demon's Costume Designer on Mixing Glitter With Gore In: racked.com, June 24, 2016.
- ↑ Andy Greenwald: Drive Costume Designer Erin Benach Answers All Your Questions About Ryan Gosling's Satin Jacket In: grantland.com, September 21, 2011.
- ↑ Molly Creeden: Elle Fanning on Her 'Neon Demon' Transformation - and Her Most Memorable Beauty Malfunction Yet In: Vogue, June 16, 2016.
- ↑ Daniel Nava: The Neon Demon In: chicagocinemacircuit.com, June 22, 2016.
- ↑ http://www.indiewire.com/2016/06/the-neon-demon-nicolas-winding-refn-reveals-why-his-vampire-model-movie-is-autobiographical-290231/
- ↑ Kevin Jagernauth: Full Soundtrack Details Revealed For Nicolas Winding Refn's 'The Neon Demon', Summer Release Scheduled In: indiewire.com, April 12, 2016.
- ↑ Elias Leight: Diplo & Sia Explore Heartbreak On 'Waving Goodbye' In: billboard.com, June 27, 2016.
- ↑ a b Randall Colburn: Cliff Martinez - The Neon Demon Soundtrack. The composer's latest for Nicolas Winding Refn proves they're artistic soulmates In: consequenceofsound.net, June 23, 2016.
- ↑ Soundtracks. The Week of July 16, 2016 In: billboard.com. Retrieved August 16, 2016.
- ↑ Official Soundtrack Albums Chart Top 50 In: officialcharts.com. Retrieved August 16, 2016.
- ↑ a b Scott Feinberg: Feinberg Forecast: The First Look at the 89th Oscar Race In: The Hollywood Reporter, September 9, 2016.
- ↑ The Neon Demon: Settlement with the fashion industry In: Friday, July 15, 2016.
- ↑ 145 Original Scores In 2016 Oscar Race In: oscars.org, December 13, 2016.
- ↑ 91 Original Songs Vie for 2016 Oscar In: oscars.org, December 13, 2016.
- ↑ Elle Fanning as a killer model In: welt.de, June 23, 2016.
- ↑ Killing It: Elle Fanning And The Stars Of The Neon Demon In: vmagazine.com, June 21, 2016.
- ↑ Lindsay Schneider: Elle Fanning and 'The Neon Demon' Cast Grace V's Cover In: observer.com, June 22, 2016.
- ↑ Hannah Furness: The Neon Demon booed in Cannes over cannibalism and necrophilia In: telegraph.co.uk, May 20, 2016.
- ↑ Tokyo International Film Festival 2016 In: tiff-jp.net. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
- ↑ Twelve Cannes award-winning films to be showcased in Goa In: indiatimes.com, November 8, 2016.
- ^ Reasons for approval for The Neon Demon In: Voluntary Self-Control of the Film Industry. Retrieved June 26, 2016.
- ↑ The Neon Demon In: Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved February 17, 2020.
- ^ The Neon Demon In: Metacritic. Retrieved February 17, 2020.
- ↑ Jordan Raup: Cahiers du cinéma's Top 10 Films of 2016 Includes 'Toni Erdmann,' 'Elle,' and 'The Neon Demon' In: thefilmstage.com, November 29, 2016.
- ↑ Owen Gleiberman: Cannes Film Review: 'The Neon Demon' In: Variety, May 19, 2016.
- ↑ Dietmar Dath: Film review for the theatrical release of the thriller "The Neon Demon" In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, June 22, 2016.
- ↑ Lukas Stern: New Film by Nicolas Winding Refn: Attack on the Eye In: DER SPIEGEL ONLINE, June 20, 2016.
- ↑ Hanns-Georg Rodek: Mode und Desperation In: DIE WELT, issue 25, June 19, 2016.
- ^ The Neon Demon In: boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
- ↑ Jazz Tangcay: Winners: 2016 Atlanta Film Critics Society Awards In: awardsdaily.com, December 4, 2016.
- ↑ BloodGuts UK Horror Awards 2016 - The Extras In: bloodguts.co.uk. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
- ↑ BloodGuts UK Horror Awards 2016 - The Stars In: bloodguts.co.uk. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
- ↑ Nick Allen: Chicago Film Critics Awards Celebrate 'Moonlight', 'Manchester by the Sea', 'The Handmaiden' In: rogerebert.com, December 17, 2016.
- ↑ IFMCA Award Nominations 2016 In: filmmusiccritics.org, February 9, 2017.
- ↑ 2016 Awards In: ofcs.org. Retrieved January 4, 2017.
- ↑ James Dyer: Vote For The 2017 Three Empire Awards: Final Round In: empireonline.com, February 7, 2017.
- ↑ The 2016 WAFCA Awards In: dcfilmcritics.com. Retrieved December 7, 2016.