An arthouse inspection of the beauty industry, with the thin lines that separate appreciation and exploitation hopscotched over, "Neon Demon" is one of those films that is fascinating to look at even as you are somewhat bewildered by the thinking that went on behind it. For the first hour and a half or so, this is a reasonably standard story as Elle Fanning's Jesse wanders though the fashion industry, rising from photo shoots to catwalk and arousing the envy of some of her compeitotors, the admiration of designers, photographers and makeup artists, and the somewhat creepy attentions of her hotel landlord (Keanu Reeves).
Then for the last twenty-thirty minutes, the film goes notably insane in a grand-guignol kinda way. Much of the film beforehand does feel like a prelude to the violence to come - some of the photoshoots see Jesse manhandled and objectified in ways that feel viscerally unpleasant - but still, this isn't a film where logic is necessarily going to lead the way. It is glossy throughout, highly styalised both in look and performance.
I didn't love this - there isn't quite enough going on for the eyes or the brain that you can ignore that there isn't really a lot of empathy for anybody being shown here, But it's not utterly dismissable either - the last portion offers a couple of sights that you probably won't see many other places and a glorious lack of tastefulless.
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