Nicolas Winding Refn Brings Gun-Toting Rapists and an All-Night Car Chase to Cannes With Amazon Series

Filmmakers often head to television in search of a broader canvas to tell their stories.

It’s usually less attractive to those who relish texture over plot, as well as cinematic experimentation.

In recent years, Nicolas Winding Refn has veered closer to that category, constructing a moody body of work around expressionistic showdowns that build to bloodiness with grim finality.

But as television continues to provide more room for innovation, Refn’s 10-part hitman saga “Too Old to Die Young,” a 13-hour Amazon mini-series premiering on Amazon this summer, arrives right on schedule.As if to assure fans he hasn’t abandoned his filmmaking bonafides, Refn premiered two episodes of the show at the Cannes Film Festival, where he first solidified his grimy auteur status with “Drive.” Since the festival only screened episodes 3 and 4 from the show, it’s hard to assess the full picture of this sprawling effort, since each installment runs feature length.

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