Although this film is polished, the lead actress brilliant and the structure intelligent, there is a stiffness to this film that I could not penatrate. It's many moments of silence are too formal rather than hypnotic. So self-conscious and choreographed even in it's most natural and minimal scenes that it left me disconnected and empty. Every character feels superficial more a symbol for a character. When I realized this film, telling the story of a repressed woman, was trying to…

This sloooooow-mo, nihilist, death-core genre that Refn has created seems to be based on taking things to its furthest extreme than flipping it to the opposite, ultimately nullifying everything, leaving you completely empty. Watching the actors work with this material is extremely exciting. The slowness and silence is like a game, playing with your patience and expectations. I loved how effective this is; even with this level of graphic violence heighten by sexy lighting and art-installation composition, what stayed with…