Following the immensity of 2011’s Drive, Nicolas Winding Refn and Ryan Gosling are making their anticipated reunion this year with Only God Forgives.
The film was finally announced as part of the Cannes Film Festival line-up yesterday, where it will be making its world premiere next month.
The first red-band trailer debuted earlier in the month, and has been followed this week with a new, neon-infused teaser poster, along with two new international trailers. And following quickly on from the Cannes announcement comes a new international poster, proudly featuring the logo of the festival.
Bangkok. Ten years ago Julian killed a cop and went on the run. Now he manages a Thai boxing club as a front for a drugs operation. Respected in the criminal underworld, deep inside, he feels empty.
When Julian’s brother murders a prostitute the police call on retired cop Chang – the Angel of Vengeance. Chang allows the father to kill his daughter’s murderer, then ‘restores order’ by chopping off the man’s right hand.
Julian’s mother Jenna – the head of a powerful criminal organization – arrives in Bangkok to collect her son’s body. She dispatches Julian to find his killers and ‘raise hell’.
Increasingly obsessed with the Angel of Vengeance, Julian challenges him to a boxing match, hoping that by defeating him he might find spiritual release… but Chang triumphs. A furious Jenna plots revenge and the stage is set for a bloody journey through betrayal and vengeance towards a final confrontation and the possibility of redemption.
Gosling stars alongside Kristin Scott Thomas, Yayaying, and Vithaya Pansringarm.
Winding Refn is directing from his own script this time around, with past collaborator Lene Børglum (Valhalla Rising) once more serving as producer.
The posters for Drive were some of the finest in recent memory. And this new international poster is every bit as beautiful as some of those we saw for Winding Refn and Gosling’s first time working together. The sun-kissed shot of Gosling here is an interesting contrast to what you might expect, and I’m looking forward to seeing the marketing campaign continue in the months to come.
Only God Forgives will be released on July 19th in the US. Still no word yet on a firm UK release date, but we’re hoping it will be arriving this summer too. For now, here’s the great new poster for the film, which you can click through to enlarge.
