WEAR PRADA
‘Neon Demon’ tells dark, garish tale of beauty obsession
Films don't come much more curious than Nicolas Winding Refn's outlandish “The Neon Demon,” unless they are directed by the great David Lynch.
Refn's semi-enjoyable wack-a-doodle film, which recalls Lynch's nightmarish “Mulholland Drive” (2001), begins with a blood-soaked fashion photo shoot, featuring 16-year-old Jesse (Elle Fanning), an angelic wannabe model from the boonies who has come to Los Angeles to be a star. In a series of explosive flashes accompanied by the hypnotic electronic score of Refn regular Cliff Martinez, we see Jesse's new friend Dean (Karl Glusman), who would love to be more than a friend, photograph Jesse, who is made up to resemble a murder victim in fab designer dresses. Tres chic, if you're the Marquis de Sade.
Jesse resides in a rundown, cheap motel in Pasadena managed by the brutish Hank (Keanu Reeves), who brags that he has a 13-year-old homeless girl in one room and has been known to have to shoo a mountain lion from his residence. Jesse signs with a hot modeling agency run by a cruel diva (Christina Hendricks) and meets friendly makeup artist Ruby (Jena Malone). At a party, guests watch what appears to be an S&M acrobat act, and Jesse meets established models Gigi (Bella Heathcote) and Sarah (Abbey Lee), whose only meals are a swipe from their fruit-flavored lipsticks. At a photo shoot with in-demand fashion photographer Jack MacArthur (Desmond Harrington), Jesse gets lathered in gold paint and her career surges, alarming jealous harpies Sarah and Gigi.
Did I mention the necrophilia and cannibalism? While a more sensuous experience than “Knight of Cups,” Terrence Malick's recent film about a gadabout Hollywood screenwriter, “The Neon Demon” does not amount to much more than twin imagery and a garish homage to the Italian giallo splatter films that were popular in 1970s grindhouses. The ghost of Mario Bava must be beaming. But it's all eye candy.
Fanning, who has a bit of sleepy affect here, is gorgeous in and out of makeup and haute couture. But the film, as much a guilty pleasure as it is, lacks a pulse — and a heart for that matter.
(“The Neon Demon” contains violence, nudity, sexually suggestive scenes and profanity.)