WATCH: Only God Forgives [2013]

Nicolas Winding Refn once said that he would direct Only God Forgives upon the completion of Valhalla Rising, his Viking-era purgatorial venture, but did otherwise at Ryan Gosling's request to complete Drive. I wish Refn hadn't listened. Ryan Gosling's character in that wonderful film is a completely different kind of anti-hero in this Eastern cowboy film. With its very seductive imagery and taboo themes spread across a blue-and-red neon filmscape, Only God Forgives is a lot of style and very little to get to grips with.

It is very beautiful, the emotion captured in Gosling's face when he has very little to no dialogue can speak volumes. My only reasoning for its want to have been directed before Drive is that mainstream audiences have since identified with Drive and Gosling as a Refn favourite. It is no secret that Gosling is definite eye-candy and was somewhat of a anarchic rockstar in Drive. To deliver this outing will leave a bit of an odd taste in the mouth of that audience.

WATCH: Synedoche, New York [2008]

I am a real sucker for multi-layered films that encompass all areas of human emotion. Donnie Darko made me feel this way, Vanilla Sky is a culprit and so are many of John Hughes' rite-du-passage movies. Synecdoche, New York is a fantastical tale which covers the human map of emotion without faltering into repetition or bum-numbing shiftiness for the viewer. Familiar with only Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine and a very early viewing of Human Nature, I was excited to see Synecdoche, New York, Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut - and for this review, it is the third viewing. It's a visual masterpiece of life imitating life and the constant questions of our morals. It's a brave piece but one that does not feel out of place when viewed alongside Being John Malkovich. With that in mind, and several dozen more motifs and metaphors tacked on, this is a life-spanning adventure of achieving an unrealised lifetime goal, even if it is not yet known. It's also with this film that I noted Philip Seymour Hoffman as one of the most invigorating actors of all time.