The Neon Demon by Nicolas Winding Refn

In terms of cinematic quality,Nicolas Winding Refn has seldom disappointed,but his latest feature film has both critics and audiences divided,and after watching the film,I do understand why.I was not disappointed,quite intrigued rather.Any moviegoer with a knack for macabre surreal films would surely enjoy it.A contemporary surrealism,on par with Beyond the Black Rainbow almost had a Lynchian touch to it.

The Neon Demon,on it's surface tells us the story of Jesse,a 16 year old who moves to Los Angeles to launch her career as a model,her innocence and beauty helps her make strides in the fashion industry which veterans of the trade are certainly unhappy about.She must survive in this highly precarious environment defending herself from predators of all manners,even people whom she trusted turned out to have ulterior motives behind their kindness.The story ends on a sad and perplexing note.

The movie opens with a shot of our protagonist drenched in blood laying lifeless on a couch.This shot is symbolic and foreshadows what's to come later in the film.We quickly discover that it was a photoshoot and Jesse is indeed alive.The first dialogue we hear isn't from Jesse but from a makeup artist Ruby whom she quickly befriends.She is invited to a party where she meets two other models,Gigi and Sarah.The movie does justice to it's name.The use of neon colors along with a hynotizing score keeps the movie flowing.In fact,it's an essential element in the movie.The music from the title card sequence continues as we see the opening shot,the music is abruptly interrupted as we jump to the next scene in the greenroom,the use of neon color imagery is stopped as well.Here Jesse and Ruby interact and is an interesting scene.Most of the scene is shot through mirrors,infact most shots of Jesse at her most vulnerable are shot through a mirror.
Another interesting thing about the movie is it's preference of music over dialogue,a good deal of the movie is filled with sequences involving music and action.
As she's heading back to her motel room,she discovers a wild cat broke into her room.This sequence does seem out of place at first glance but perhaps a predator breaking into a room is symbolic and is  a foreshadowing for what's to come next.
Jesse attends a photoshoot with a sleazy photographer Jack,this is where things start to take a darker turn.Next we see her at an audition for a designer and she gets selected to much disarray of a fellow model.Jesse discovers her in the washroom and tries to console her but after a brief altercation she injures herself.The next scene shows Ruby at her second job,as an enbalmist.The thirst for beauty in us transcends our lives themselves.
The designer decides to end the show with Jesse and this little boost pushes her into a transcendental surreal sequence where she learns to embrace the narcissism.The Jesse that we see in the following scenes is hardly recognizable from the first half of the movie.We see a dream sequence where the motel owner inserts a knife into her mouth,perhaps this is also symbolic of a fear in her.She quickly wakes up to loud thudding at her door of someone trying to break in,she locks the door and gathers herself by the bed.This is where we see a mirror shot again indicating her vulnerability,she hears someone screaming next door and out of fear for her safety she calls Ruby,She is treated well by Ruby but did she know Ruby had carnal expectations from her.After being thoroughly rejected by Jesse,Ruby has intercourse with an enbalmed corpse in the morgue.Meanwhile Jesse adores herself in mirrors,putting on makeup and dressing herself up.Ruby returns to find Jesse on the diving board upon an empty pool.Jesse makes another statement about her beauty and in the following scenes she is murdered by Ruby,Gigi and Sarah.

The ending of the movie has been explained by the director himself,in the end Jesse is literally devoured by Ruby,Gigi and Sarah and each have a distinct experience;

• “Jena Malone’s character, who initiates this whole ceremony of beauty, menstruates again, has something flowing through her.”
• “Bella Heathcote, who wants to manufacture her own beauty, dies — because that’s the one thing that you can’t do.”
• “And then there’s Abbey Lee, the supermodel, who felt like a ghost, but finds everything within her again, by eating the thing that Jesse is.”