An average movie

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Nicolas Winding Refn’s work, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, even though it was, as usual with this director, a visually spellbinding movie with a killer soundtrack, to be honest, I didn’t feel much connection with the damned thing. The first thing that bothered me was that Elle Fanning was rather miscast in my opinion. I get that she was chosen to play this seemingly pure and innocent girl but she was never really convincing as a top-model who was supposed to be apparently incredibly gorgeous. I mean, she is a decent actress, no doubt about it, but, to be honest, I don’t think she was attractive enough and, above all, charismatic enough for this part. Considering the rest of the movie, it is pretty obvious that Winding Refn didn’t care about providing a realistic take on the average life of a top-model living in Los Angeles which wasn't necessarily a bad thing though. Eventually, the damned thing turned out to be so surrealist that, as a result, it felt like watching a David Lynch movie dealing with top-models which might sound more appealing than it actually was. To be honest, it seems that Winding Refn's movies are getting increasingly pretentious and less and less rewarding. Anyway, to conclude, even though I didn’t really work for me, it was still a decent watch and it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in Nicolas Winding Refn’s work.