Few people doubt the fiercely competitive, backstabbing nature of the fashion industry. In this treacherous realm, models who by nature are often desperate to be the center of attention will do just about anything to get the edge on their competition. However, The Neon Demon takes this obsession to outrageous heights and ratchets up the gross-out factor to a level disturbing even for an indie film.
The Neon Demon is a strange, bleakly filmed story that offers little of the excitement, glamour, and high energy typically associated with the fashion industry. There are no strongly focused characters a la Anne Hathaway or Meryl Streep, or memorable supporting cast like Emily Blunt which made the Devil Wears Prada so memorable. Neon grinds on as slow and lackluster – although there is a depressing fascination with the slo-mo eventual destruction of the seemingly naive, underage main character, Jesse (Elle Fanning).
Jesse becomes the object of extreme jealousy on the part of two other young models Gigi (Bella Heathcote) and Sarah (Abbey Lee) who fall out of favor with photographers and casting directors as quickly as fast fashion from Forever 21. Gigi, Sarah, and make-up artist Ruby (Jena Malone) live a catatonic, jaded, existence and their unreasonable, vampiric obsession with all of the nitty gritty details of Jesse’s private life is absurd. While Jesse has young, fresh good looks untouched by the surgeons knife – Gigi and Sarah react as though she’s the most formidable competitor in the beauty sweepstakes they’ve ever faced.
This just doesn’t jell unless there was more of a backstory that would account for the motivations of Bella and Sarah against Jesse. Otherwise, they seem to exist in a vacuum. Ruby also develops an unhealthy attachment to Jesse which also doesn’t feel convincing. Yet, all three of these women pursue her with ultimately gruesome, fatal results. There is also the disturbing implications of the three women being involved with a murderous cult which might be preying on young women new to L.A. with blood chilling possibilities reminiscent of American Horror Story.
Added to this, Keanu Reeves has a small part as the sleaze bag proprietor of the seedy motel where Jesse lives and just might be a rapist. As it turns out, everyone who surrounds her is no good, except for Jesse’s sometime boyfriend Dean (Karl Glusman). Curiously, she doesn’t seem too keen about holding onto him and this proves to be part of her undoing. Everything about her life and career path is ominous and toxic without any payoff in sight to offset that.
With that said, there doesn’t seem to be anything positive to be gleaned from The Neon Demon as it all seems so nihilistic – which made it one of the most controversial and critically divided offerings of 2016. Danish director Nicholas Winding Refn was praised for his directorial effort, but the film was either revered or reviled by the critics at the Cannes Film Festival. Then again, for some critics and film goers that provides its own weirdly perverse fascination if blood cults, cannibalism, and necrophilia offer any sort of appeal.
