In The Neon Demon, the beautiful has never been so ugly. Nicolas Winding Refn’s film is a Valley Of The Dolls-esque tale filtered through the geometric and dreamy aesthetics of Beyond The Black Rainbow. The plot itself is fairly straightforward, but the film oozes with an unsettling atmosphere. A lot of that is due to the film’s music by Cliff Martinez; it turns out that music informed a lot of the mood on set as well.
Over at Fandango, there is a playlist of the songs that Refn circulated to cast and crew to help them get into the proper headspace for the film. The song choices are a mixture of gothic, electronic, and post-punk that plays up a dreamlike quality with subtle (and not so subtle) hints at malice lying beneath the notes. With tracks from Brian Eno, Kraftwerk, Death In Vegas, Bauhaus, and many others, it’s easy to see how this mixtape influenced the filmmakers and actors in the film. Here’s the full track listing:
“So I Cried,” The Myrmidons
“Radio-Activity,” Kraftwerk
“Bubble Sex,” Tommy Seebach
“Cheree,” Suicide
“Drone Logic,” Daniel Avery
“Fade To Grey,” Visage
“Knights In White Satin,” Giorgio Moroder
“Superwoman,” Madison
“Fyt,” This Mortal Coil
“(Theme From) Valley Of The Dolls,” Dionne Warwick
“An Ending,” Brian Eno
“Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” Bauhaus
“Magic Fly,” Space
“The Number One Song In Heaven,” Sparks
“Won’t Somebody Dance With Me,” Lynsey De Paul
“My Elusive Dreams,” Tammy Wynette And George Jones
“Savage Love,” Death In Vegas
“Pop Pop Shoo Wah,” Erotic Drum Band
“Coum,” Death In Vegas
“Boy,” Book Of Love
The songs are available as a YouTube playlist, embedded below, to further help people prepare to see Refn’s film or for those who wish to return to its nightmarish world through an audial connection. On Fandango, Refn also discusses how music fits into his filmmaking and what role Martinez and the song list play in helping him craft his story. The filmmaker has assembled a beautiful but dangerous group of songs, which is only fitting for his twisted tale of morality gone awry.
(Via Fandango)