<p>Nicolas Winding Refn has emerged as a uniquely talented international filmmaker with an eye for visceral, iconic images. A 21st century mythmaker from his cult <em>Pusher</em> trilogy to the award-winning <em>Drive</em> and <em>Only God Forgives</em>, Refn infuses a sophisticated avant-garde sensibility with the grit of exploitation cinema. This book relates Refn&#39;s films to the ideas of Nietzsche, Canetti, Blanchot and others, and to aesthetic theory in general. It also asks why the West has become a largely artificial society, unable to generate new communal mythologies. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.</p>