By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Starring: Albert Brooks | Bryan Cranston | Carey Mulligan | Oscar Isaac | Ryan Gosling
Country: united_states
Year: 2011
Running time: 100
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780504/
Diane says: “The good: Ryan Gosling, of course. I was with a dozen or so women friends recently, and Ryan Gosling was the one actor they could all agree on as someone they’d like to sleep with. Albert Brooks. What a treat to see him in this role, so many years after he had to report from his sickbed on Saturday Night Live. The eyes of the boy playing Benizio. The changes in tempo: slow motion, seconds-only flashes of scenes, the rush of car chases. The music. The opening sequence that totally pulls you in.
“The bad: The hero of DRIVE references the story of the scorpion and the turtle, which I’ve only ever heard told in THE CRYING GAME. I love the sacrifice that culminates that film. DRIVE ends with sacrifice, too, but I wasn’t nearly as affected by it. Maybe because Gosling is an opaque agent–at one point, he made me think of the protag of BEING THERE. (Hey, I thought the same about BRONSON, also by director Refn.) The character’s jacket undergoes more change than he does.
“The bottom line: May never go into a pizza parlor again. Much more gruesome than I expected. I have never been so frightened by a woman putting on her lipstick. Noms for production design, Brooks as a mafioso, Bryan Cranston as Shannon. 4 cats”
Ibad says: “I loved it so much more than I thought I would. Ryan Gosling’s performance is DEFINITELY award worthy with quietly simmering tension throughout and I’ve been listening to the soundtrack all day. Kind of wish Carey Mulligan’s role was a bit stronger, I could hardly picture her as a mother in the first place. Either way though it’s still already one of my favorite films of the year.”
Chris says: “BRONSON, the only other film I’ve seen from director Nicolas Winding Refn, dazzled me by depicting its subject in purely cinematic terms, favoring magical realism and stylistic collage over a more traditional, been-there-done-that approach. My only problem with it was that Bronson himself remained far too opaque, a masked figure for our amusement rather than a real-life person (which he in fact was).
“Initially, I had the same problem with Refn’s latest film, DRIVE. Ryan Gosling stars as an enigmatic loner who works as a mechanic and a Hollywood vehicular stunt man by day and a getaway driver for criminals after dark. He’s opaque to the point where he’s only referred to by name as ‘Driver’–we know virtually nothing else about his life, apart from his interactions with Irene (Carey Mulligan), a neighbor with a young son and an incarcerated husband. Even then, Gosling seems coolly blank, revealing next to nothing about himself as becomes a presence in their lives.
“Fortunately, it’s none other than Gosling that saves the film from devolving into an empty, flashy exercise. By the midway point, it resonates that Gosling is meant to be a blank slate: whether a male companion and protector for Irene or a submissive getaway driver for crime boss Bernie Rose (Albert Brooks, unlikely but effortlessly playing a heavy, and with dignity too!), he becomes who others want him to be. Although he speaks little, you can see perceptible shifts in persona via his facial expressions and body language.
“However, following an alarming, tragic chain of events, his mask partially, temporarily slips. When you catch more than a glimpse of what’s underneath, it’s not pretty. For the film’s increasingly, brutally violent remainder, you’re left to compromise this ugliness with the subsequent masks (one of them quite literal) Gosling puts on. More so than the film’s beguiling, icy, retro-electronic score or ravishing visual palette, this interference between a constructed persona and one’s own essence gives DRIVE its lift. With Refn providing Gosling the perfect environment for his perfect cipher of a character, and with Gosling masterfully imbuing that character with just enough nuance to keep us guessing, the two men prove a director-actor match made in heaven. 4 1/2 cats”
Thom says: “Over the past few years I’ve become a fan of director Refn, even going so far as to seek out his films. He has a crime/drug trilogy PUSHER. PUSHER II: WITH BLOOD ON MY HANDS, & PUSHER III: I’M THE ANGEL OF DEATH. I wasn’t a huge fan of the first one but PUSHER II I gave 5 CATS & am awaiting PUSHER III from reliable but now pricey NetFlix. Both BRONSON & VALHALLA RISING received 4 1/2 CATS. But because of a Q&A at TIFF 2009 viewing of VALHALLA RISING charming Mads Mikkelsen gave the impression that Refn was a real slave-driver. So now that Refn’s gone Hollywood what do I think? DRIVE is a thoughtful, stylish, fun thriller. It’s about a Hollywood stunt driver (the ever watchable, impressive Gosling) who moonlights as a driver for criminal operations. He decides to quit his sidelight job but falls in love with a neighbor whose husband is released from prison and needs his help in a last job that goes terribly awry making our protagonist go on the lam to save his life. The story is populated by seedy, desperate types and comes to a gaudy finish. I would have rated this attractive film much higher had I been able to understand the Driver or his love Irene (an expressive Mulligan). I kept wanting to know more about them and where they came from, their history and the reasons for their actions, but nothing much came. Gosling barely spoke a word during the entire film and was really a ciper. Both Bryan Cranston from the fabulous ‘Breaking Bad’ & Christina Hendricks from the even better ‘Mad Men’ were magnificent in smaller roles. 3 1/2 cats”