Nicolas Winding Refn is an auteur in the true sense. His style although ever changing and evolving over the year has now found its place and in way solidified with his films now being emblazoned with the NWR logo as a branded experience.
I have been following his film career since I was first exposed to the gritty thriller The Pusher trilogy in the 90s, then Bronson, the brutal yet meditative Valhalla Rising and more recently Drive, Only God Forgives and The Neon Demon.
After a mad hunt for tickets after they sold out in 2 hours I got to see him in the flesh at The Prince Charles Cinema where he spoke in between a showing of The Neon Demon & Drive. In true NWR fashion there were long silences, obscure answers and strange parables. He is an artist that is uncontrollable by studios and does what he does as some sort of cathartic form of artistry. The end result is a unique style which polarises audiences and whilst his films are always commercially successful like other Hollywood blockbusters his pervasive style has a major influence on popular culture today and is also visually, stylistically and musically taken on by everyone from the fashion industry, the sudden use of over saturated neon in film & TV, and to the acclaimed soundtrack to Stranger Things which has a baring similarity to the Only God Forgives soundtrack.
NWR also spoke above his next movie The Avenging Silence a detective story set in Tokyo
It was a great night and I also got a signed blu ray of The Neon Demon which is dope