Note - SPOILERS below. I don't know how to insert spoiler-tags into these posts, so please don't read this if you haven't seen the film & want to be surprised...
I recently watched "The Neon Demon" on Blu...wow...this movie is a true masterpiece, in every sense of the word. Really enjoy the surrealistic elements, the empty spaces, the imagery, etc. The soundtrack was also incredible.
I know next to nothing about the modeling industry, but the extreme competition, etc. seems fairly spot-on. I can easily see women being extremely jealous of a new, fresh face & killing her in a rage - in fact, I believe things like this have actually happened.
I'm typically not a Keanu Reeves fan since I don't think he's a great actor & I find many of his roles unintentionally amusing - but he was OK here as a sleazy small-time motel owner in L.A. I laughed at the scene when he & his side-kick, thinking someone had broken into the young woman's motel room, pounded on the door & yelled "Party's over a$$#%$!" - LOL.
Going along with the above, I've never lived in CA - but I have heard of roaming mountain lions/cougars in that part of the country - so, I can easily see how a mountain lion ended up slipping in a motel room's open back door...
Really enjoyed the ending credit scenes, with the desert/sky imagery, as well as the woman with the glitter?! falling all over her, the ambient soundtrack, etc. This fit in with the surrealistic elements in the rest of the film.
This film definitely reminded me somewhat of Lynch's "Mulholland Drive" (2001) - i.e., the L.A. setting, the attractive women working in the entertainment industry, the somewhat seedy apartment(s), the surrealistic elements, etc. Yes, I understand that the plot/structure of the two films was completely different, but the ambience/vibe was similar - at least to me.
I will need to watch it again at some point, it's that good. In fact, I would even say it's almost as good as NWR's Drive - and I'm a huge fan of Drive.
