If you see the behind the scenes featurette/doc about the making of Copenhagen Cowboy, Refn alludes that he found himself including the coffin prop often and, almost on a whim, wanted to fill it with something so he came up with, on the spot, of the antagonist's sister laying in there asleep for an indeterminate amount of time, then he casted his own daughter, an unexperienced actor, on a whim as well to fill that role. He often seems to just go with his instincts at any moment, and in my opinion, that may work out for him sometimes but sometimes it may not. I respect it. If he's happy with it and that's his process then that's up to him. It's all subjective anyway.
This was initially a review for Copenhagen Cowboy (2023) but since the show lost traction I re-titled the video because I also have quite a lot to say about NWR's work in general - thanks for understanding!
I really enjoy the slow cinema in Copenhagen Cowboy. I felt it gave the viewer a connection to the story. I'm yet to see too young to die, but it is next on my list to watch.
I really liked Copenhagen Cowboy, I enjoyed most of the different story lines. However, I think that an either more episodic or closer approach of them would’ve been better suited. If episodic, the show could’ve still explored different themes while placing the emphasis on Miu´s difference, her distance from everything, the atmosphere and aesthetic. Also, the character introduction in this show are very well done, they are most fascinating before we get to know them. On the other hand, focusing on one of the stories would’ve made the show more grounded, maybe really let it say something about the topics it focuses on. Like this, the show feels just a bit messy. I still look forward to a second season if it happens, but I feel that it is likely to get worse than the first season just from where we left off (the narrative has got too grand). Someone said Miu is a psychopath in another comment, I don’t think so. Just as many others in the show, I feel she is more akin to an animal. Personhood and the human animal are what I see as the underlying theme of the show so far. There is one choice that is constantly taken away from most characters, it is the choice to be truly human.
Stillness of characters often symbolises that main characters in his movies are psychopaths. People that were born evil. However, they are not fully aware of it. Martin (Too Old to Die Young) or Driver both were psychopaths, but didn't know it. There is a reason why they are so still, because their lives are empty, because they cannot fully express their natural thirst for violence and carnage. They are simply bored and empty. Yet they are not aware of their inner psychopathy, so they don't know how to fill in this emptiness and boredom. But when they have contact with violence, they fill thrilled and more willing to live. The viewer, in a way get into protagonist mind, initially step by step we start to notice that there is something wrong about the protagonist, but then we uncover that they are naturally born evil. Miu is the same. She is psychopath like Martin
and yet his self indulgent disposition manages to make it's way into every shot as well as into the the edit of all of his films, ultimately ruining his work lol (drive being the exception, a masterpiece)
A mix of Dario Argento, David Lynch, Kill Bill, Hannibal, Matrix and some vampires... all wrapped up in the most irritating nonsense. Inexpressive performances (all the characters say their lines in the same way), they interrogate each other with blunt questions, followed by silences that seem like hours, where they meditate on the answer to give. Of course, the answer usually has nothing to do with the question, so the ability to understand what the series is about is impossible. The "come" gesture with the fingers, stolen from the Matrix and used ad nauseam, music all the time, appearances of characters with sound effects to cause a startle, neon lights (as if they were the great novelty) huge empty spaces (no one lives in Copenhagen?). Nothing is explained, nothing makes sense (what about the Albanian women traffickers in the first episodes? They appear in a kind of video clip in the penultimate episode!!) everything happens just because, without any explanation or logic: a Chinese restaurant in the middle of nowhere, two guys killing each other in a bar without anyone caring, the girl kidnapped by the Chinese mafia boss who is actually her father (!!) ... everything happens because of what occurs to her to the director, to his whims and his ego, and if the viewer doesn't understand anything, it's his problem. The eighties keyboards of the soundtrack end up giving an air of bizarre and unintentional comedy to the whole thing and a feeling of "laugh not to cry" to the unfortunate spectators. Nicolas Winding Refn managed to put "Netflix" at the beginning of each chapter with the same handwritten font with which his omnipresent initials appear (what an achievement!). Nor was he going to deprive himself of appearing on the screen with his face of nothing and his tortoiseshell glasses. The strange thing is not that it is a horrible series (there are worse ones). The mystery is that all the "intelligentzia" is surrendered to this jerk only surpassed by its previous monstrosity, "Too old to die young", another rubbish that dives with its typical thick line into the lowest instincts of the human being. Time puts these clunkers in their place, as happens with the classics but in reverse.
