In theaters. Rated R, 100 minutes. Trailer.
A film that evokes Taxi Driver, Scarface and Lost in Translation all at the same time? I really didn't know what to expect when I walked into director Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive which stars Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman. Gosling is the unnamed and very introverted "Driver" who is a movie stunt drive by day and a heist driver by night. After falling for a neighbor, he involves himself in a complicated situation that challenges his tightly controlled existence. Click below for more on DRIVE:
The film is as understated as any Michael Bay film is loud. Refn's elegant and velvety direction and visuals provide a counterbalance to the grime and grit of the locations and characters in the film. Gosling's Driver is very economical with his words, and his burgeoning relationship with Mulligan's character is one of the most emotional I've experienced in years despite only a few scenes and dozens of words. I was shocked this was playing in a normal theater and not an arthouse - it feels like an arthouse movie the whole time and the audience didn't appear to enjoy it much. I loved the moodiness of the film and the excellent music, not the least of which is A Real Hero by College.
Much has been made about the violence in the film - it is as graphic as any Scorsese film and brings Scarface to mind in one scene in particular. Some have viewed it as a major flaw - I disagree and feel that informs Gosling's character. He hardly speaks but clearly is a volcano of emotions and anger that I think the explicit nature of the violence is just right for the film and Gosling's character.
My favorite scene in the film is the Welcome Home scene during Standard's speech - Mulligan's nonverbal acting is amazing and it nearly brought me to tears.
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Sunday, September 18, 2011
Drive - A
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2 comments:
yeah, it's a really good film. i love the pink font. i love the music. it's an A- for me, i think, but it might be an A on second viewing. My problems are 1) Carey Mulligan is just way too sweet here to be any where close to her husband and 2) I'm not sure what, if anything, it's telling me about the world that I didn't already know. But, I might have missed that under the stylish veneer. I do love how they play with showing then hiding Gosling's face from the opening moments forward, especially with the very slow disappear in the hotel room bathroom. Also, the scene where Mulligan's husband meets Gosling for the first time is perfect.
Maybe its just a hollow exercise in style, but something about the Driver character transcends the film. As an intense and introspective person myself, I can identify with it. The film, to me, is very hopeful and watching Gosling's character open up and protect is great. SPOILERS: I didn't like the Mulligan casting going in (how about Blake Lively or someone like that), but it works - she is sweet but obviously it was a shotgun marriage and she regrets it but is sticking it out for Benecio.
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