The Neon Demon (2016) REVIEW

Elle Fanning plays wannabe model Jesse, she has it all - legs for days, blonde perfect hair and an enigmatic 'deer in the headlights' persona to her. When she arrives in LA, she has a desperate urge to be a model - and starting out isn't exactly hard for her. 

Jesse soon meets bloshy casting agent Roberta Hoffman (Christina Hendricks) who says she will go very far in the industry. But of course, you can't rise in this kind of industry without people trying to plot your fall. 

She may seem perfect - too perfect- for some. And when she meets two almost alien like models, the air of venom rises rapidly. The models  are Gigi (Bella Heathcote), who is obsessed with changing her body with surgery and Sarah (Abbey Lee), naturally beautiful but some begin to consider her 'past it. With Jesse's gaining rapid attention, they cannot help themselves but feel obsessed with her, and more so, hateful.

Jesse, in her first photo shoot with an amateur young male photographer goes extremely well - with the young naive boy falling for her instantly, along seemingly with make up artist Ruby (Jena Malone) who attempts to take her under her wing. But is Ruby really there to help? Will Jesse thrive or will the poisonous world of modelling prove too much for her?!

Directed and written by self labelled 'auteur' Nicolas Winding Refn, this film will have you glued to your seat, no matter how uncomfortable you may begin to feel. This film is definitely an experience. With lighting in tones of blue and dangerous red, it lures you in, stunning and silencing you in equal measure. Neon Demon at times feels just as sleek, gorgeous and vapid as the modelling agency itself.

As for the acting, Fanning literally shakes off her 'child actor' skin here. The performance is confident and more commanding than anything else she has done. Refn loves 'pretty things' and the idea of that concept in this film is explored. Can true beauty thrive, or will the world consume it and ruin it? Refn is satirising the model industry, our obsession as a global community with being considered 'skinny' or beautiful. However on the same side, he is simply fuelling that fire.

Refn is no stranger to controversy - or booing at Cannes film festival for that matter. He clearly wants to create a style throughout his films - but as with Only God Forgives, I feel that he has a urge to always push a scene or a story too far, and for what effect? 

By the last act, Refn has created a film that builds into an all out horror film. It is honestly thrilling to watch and it does have a volatile nature to the film which I think works considerably well. It keeps us locked in.

It does however, still feel lacking in some ways - we still never really get to know Jesse - or perhaps there wasn't much to know. I don't think she was the most likeable character, but again, perhaps that is the point. Keanu Reeves' screen time feels totally cut off and THAT scene in a mortuary in the final act feels plain wrong. Malone should win an Oscar for commitment to that role however.

Worth watching for pure storming ambition and an jaw dropping final act, but it may still leave you with a bitter taste in your mouth. 6.5/10