The Neon Demon
Stream
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When aspiring model Jesse moves to Los Angeles, her youth and vitality are devoured by a group of beauty-obsessed women who will take any means necessary to get what she has.
What critics thought
Nicolas Winding Refn's fashion-world horror landed at Cannes with boos and a standing ovation, and critics never reconciled after that. Admirers found it a genuinely audacious sensory experience willing to push past any reasonable stopping point; detractors called it hollow provocation dressed up in expensive cinematography. The central argument was whether dazzling, deliberately paced imagery can substitute for narrative or character — or whether Refn is simply recycling influences more interesting than anything he builds from them.
“When the film reaches its logical end point, Refn just keeps pushing, and eventually lands on a sequence so jaw-dropping – almost certainly a sly, glossy-magazine refashioning of Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali's groundbreaking surrealist short Un Chien Andalou – that all you can do is howl or cheer.”
Robbie Collin·The Daily Telegraph
“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. He is, but not if you're on the lookout for a movie that makes sense.”
Owen Gleiberman·Variety
“Mr. Refn composes striking images, but they're all secondhand: faux Fellini, faux David Lynch and so on.”
Glenn Kenny·The New York Times
“[a] stultifyingly vapid, ponderously paced allegorical critique of the modeling world whose seethingly jealous inhabitants can't wait to literally chew each other up and spit each other out”
Todd McCarthy·The Hollywood Reporter
Genres
Horror, Thriller
Cast & Crew
Nicolas Winding RefnDirector
Elle FanningJesse
Karl GlusmanDean
Jena MaloneRuby
Bella HeathcoteGigi
Abbey LeeSarah
Desmond HarringtonJack
Keanu ReevesHank
Christina HendricksRoberta Hoffmann
Alessandro NivolaRobert Sarno
Charles BakerMikey
Jamie ClaytonCasting Director
Stacey DangerCasting Assistant
Cliff MartinezComposer
Natasha BraierCinematographyThe Neon Demon
When aspiring model Jesse moves to Los Angeles, her youth and vitality are devoured by a group of beauty-obsessed women who will take any means necessary to get what she has.
What critics thought
Nicolas Winding Refn's fashion-world horror landed at Cannes with boos and a standing ovation, and critics never reconciled after that. Admirers found it a genuinely audacious sensory experience willing to push past any reasonable stopping point; detractors called it hollow provocation dressed up in expensive cinematography. The central argument was whether dazzling, deliberately paced imagery can substitute for narrative or character — or whether Refn is simply recycling influences more interesting than anything he builds from them.
“When the film reaches its logical end point, Refn just keeps pushing, and eventually lands on a sequence so jaw-dropping – almost certainly a sly, glossy-magazine refashioning of Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali's groundbreaking surrealist short Un Chien Andalou – that all you can do is howl or cheer.”
Robbie Collin·The Daily Telegraph
“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. He is, but not if you're on the lookout for a movie that makes sense.”
Owen Gleiberman·Variety
“Mr. Refn composes striking images, but they're all secondhand: faux Fellini, faux David Lynch and so on.”
Glenn Kenny·The New York Times
“[a] stultifyingly vapid, ponderously paced allegorical critique of the modeling world whose seethingly jealous inhabitants can't wait to literally chew each other up and spit each other out”
Todd McCarthy·The Hollywood Reporter
Genres
Horror, Thriller
Cast & Crew
Nicolas Winding RefnDirectorElle FanningJesseKarl GlusmanDeanJena MaloneRubyBella HeathcoteGigiAbbey LeeSarahDesmond HarringtonJackKeanu ReevesHankChristina HendricksRoberta HoffmannAlessandro NivolaRobert SarnoCharles BakerMikeyJamie ClaytonCasting DirectorStacey DangerCasting AssistantCliff MartinezComposerNatasha BraierCinematographyStream
Rent & Buy