As a fan of Nicolas Winding Refn's most "beloved" works (Drive, Bronson) and what many see as his worst (Only God Forgives), I would say that The Neon Demon matches his stunning (colorblind) eye for lighting and cinematography while in some ways tempering his tendency toward visceral brutality, replacing it with disturbing, "maneater" psycho-sexuality. The film follows a young model (Elle Fanning) whose natural beauty stuns the modeling world, quickly turning a makeup artist (Jena Malone) and two beauty-obsessed models (Bella Heathcote, Abbey Lee Kershaw) into obsessive lust and jealousy.As with Only God Forgives before it, the film uses symbolism and unspoken implication to create its allusions, which in this case seem to highlight the illusion of beauty and the obsessive fantasies created to either fake it or make it. However, much of this gets lost in the sparseness of the material and in the symbolism that doesn't immediately connect to the themes Refn is conveying to the viewer. With an underdeveloped narrative, the film has a brooding underbelly that never brings us too far under the surface.Despite a charming Karl Glusman, a sinister Keanu Reeves, an eerie Desmond Harrington and a pretentious Alessandro Nivola in supporting roles, the film is very thin on story and character development undercutting the power its four main female characters could have. With things moving too quickly to their conclusion, the film never truly realizes the promise of its exploration of a beauty-obsessed industry full of Lady Macbeth types. So while it may rejuvenate Refn's standing following Only God Forgives, it doesn't move him far away from the perception of Refn being pretentiously visual while lacking substance or immediacy. This perception was created by Valhalla Rising and Only God Forgives in quite possibly an unfair manner. Nevertheless, there is enough here to satisfy the niche audience of Refn fans who enjoy his violent surrealism. However, there won't be much for audiences outside of that niche to consume... if you excuse the pun.

Some will say this movie is soulless trash, visually stunning but nothing inside, no story, no plot. And that is exactly what the movie is about. Outside beauty. It's superficial and the person, as some of the characters you'll come across in "The Neon Demon", might be dead inside. Beauty is depicted through the characters, lightning, with every camera angle, through the whole atmosphere which will leave you feeling empty. Even the conversations they have are regarding beauty. The movie is about the inner ugliness of the people surrounding our protagonist - Jesse, how she copes with it and how she is devoured by the beauty world by giving into it. I do agree that this movie has nothing new to say, but by that analogy all the movies have nothing new to say. Every movie is about things we come across in every day life, of course not to the extent the movies show it. I guess the bad reviews are from hasty, unpatient people that like action movies where good plot is concidered "Uugh, my wife/kid/dog got killed! I'm gonna spend the next hour killing and destroying!" Nicolas Winding Refn takes his time with his scenes and if you're in a hurry, go watch Mission Impossible or something similar to that kind.

Most of the time, absolutely NOTHING happens in this flick. And when something finally does happen, it either makes no sense whatsoever and/or is completely ludicrous (not in an amusing way).Although technically well executed, I find the visual style pretentious and tacky and I'd say the same about the soundtrack.It's almost as if the idea was to make a David Lynch flick for millennials: brightly colored, empty, meaningless drivel covered up with a sauce of faux deep symbolism and some "edgy" violence & sex for shock value.The director surely was happy to just make a buck and get away with it all. If you were to compliment him on his work, I think he would find you stupid.

I've watched this for the second time after seeing Starry eyes. Both are very similar however the latter is a bit more amateur. This film has more start power, excellent cinematography, better music (of course, for Refn film), beautiful styling, and a pretty good story. The 2 "mean" models are great - and they are both aussies. I really liked this film however it loses its way a bit when the main character does "the Show," that part was a bit derivative of Black Swan, however it wasnt done as well, so its a bit hard to tell what causes the main characters "transformation." Very twisted and very enjoyable. Great acting, Keanu Reeves was a nasty highlight....