The Ryan Gosling film "Only God Forgives" is set in Bangkok, Thailand.
Directed and written by Nicolas Winding Refn, the 2013 film follows Julian, played by Gosling, who operates a Muay Thai club in Bangkok as a front for a drug-smuggling business. After Julian’s brother is killed, his mother Crystal arrives from the United States and demands revenge, drawing the family into a violent confrontation with a mysterious Thai police officer.
Bangkok is more than a backdrop: the film presents the city as a stylized world of neon-lit streets, karaoke bars, boxing venues, and ritualized violence. Refn filmed the movie on location in Bangkok, using the city’s nighttime colors and dense urban atmosphere to create its dreamlike tone. The film’s heightened style makes the setting feel almost mythic, but the city remains specifically Bangkok.
A common mix-up is Nicolas Winding Refn’s earlier film "Drive," which starred Gosling and was set primarily in Los Angeles. "Only God Forgives" reunited the director and actor but shifted the story to Thailand.