My Life Directed By Nicolas Winding Refn

GFT, February 25 & 26

Opening with her subject having his tarot cards read by cult Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky, Liv Corfixen's hour-long documentary follows Nicolas Winding Refn as he shoots his 2013 film Only God Forgives in Thailand. What lifts this beyond a simple Making Of documentary, however, is the fact that Corfixen is Winding Refn's wife. So as well as the on-set footage of the focussed director at work, we go behind-the-scenes to the luxurious Bangkok penthouse the couple share with their two young daughters and, later, into their Copenhagen home. Here, the mask is well and truly off. In Thailand, lead actor Ryan Gosling is a regular visitor but while his ineffable charisma sprinkles stardust over the documentary it's the interaction between husband and wife that really drives it. Part petulant child, part tortured artist riven by self-doubt, Winding Refn opens up to Corfixen in a way he wouldn't to anybody else. "I've spent three years making this film," he says at one point, "and I don't really know what it's about." And yes, they do argue about childcare and who's picking up the groceries.

Barry Didcock