Documentaries following famous directors are not too common but are always interesting.
For example, Stanley Kubrick’swife recorded his day-to-day work on THE SHINING in 1980. Now, Liv Corfixen has made a short documentary following her husband as he works on ONLY GOD FORGIVES.
MY LIFE DIRECTED BY NICOLAS WINDING REFN follows their family for over six months – from the beginning of shooting the film, to its premiere at Cannes Film Festival. It is interesting for fans of Nicolas Winding Refn’s work because it highlights the amount of work he puts into his films.
It also provides a lot of insight into their private lives, this is not as interesting as the scenes following his work but some parts are quite charming as you see the whole family cope with moving to Bangkok for six months. Ryan Gosling appears as well, showing how close he and Nicolas Winding Refn are.
Most of the documentary looks at how he views his own work; his doubts and his changing attitude towards various aspects of Only God Forgives’ production. There is a lot of discussion about the film following Drive and his worries about everyone’s expectations. He openly admits that ONLY GOD FORGIVES will not be as commercially successful.
Overall, MY LIFE DIRECTED BY NICOLAS WINDING REFN is a light hearted and loving look at the work he puts into his films and how much he loves his family. It is refreshing because it looks at how talented and meticulous he is, but it also looks at his flaws and his own self-doubt.
