Drive

In this day and age of disposable $100 million films, and films working ridiculously hard on creating not much more than a strong opening weekend, many filmmakers and film audiences forget that like all forms of art, cinema has its own language. What takes five paragraphs to write in a book can be shown in five seconds of a film, and the same works in reverse. Also in this day and age, films tend to get pigeon-holed into three categories; the first two being the most immediately recognizable: The Popcorn-Munchers and The Oscar-Bait. They're easy to recognize. The third are what I refer to as The Dump films. Basically, these are films that will get a wider audience than a limited-release film, but they're generally released in the weakest parts of the year with no expectation of big box-office or great critical acclaim; months like September, most of October, January and February are loaded with Dump Films, so it was no surprise to me that a film like Nicolas Winding Refn's DRIVE was released in September. It was a film with actors rather than stars, and a film that was more of a throwback to the great psuedo-independent crime thrillers of the 1980's (such as MANHUNTER and THIEF, both of those films from Michael Mann who also helped to define TV in the 80's with MIAMI VICE and CRIME STORY, and TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. from Mann's fellow Chicagoan William Friedkin) rather than the high-octane FAST AND FURIOUS flash-over-substance film that one very disgruntled audience member thought it would be and took her outrage to unintentionally satirical heights by suing DRIVE's distributor for the cost of her ticket as well as asserting the film also had Anti-Semitic views and still intends to file a class-action suit against "false advertising". I include this anecdote mostly because I think the gall it takes to do something like this is beyond astounding, but also because I believe this woman represents most of the viewing public who saw this film. Looking at the public's reviews of this film, it's very much a love-it-or-hate-it film. Many viewers assail the film for being too slow, too boring, and even in some cases, too graphic. Critical acclaim has been nearly universal for the film. It was one of the best reviewed films of 2011 alongside films like THE ARTIST and THE MUPPETS, but not as successful as either of those films, commercially or Oscar-y. The reason being that DRIVE is not a safe film. There isn't a moment that is antiseptic or commercial. It's not meant for mass consumption, and perhaps that explains its own devisive nature as a film. But DRIVE is not afraid to put some of the onus on the audience and tell us, quietly, to expand our ideas of what a great film is and how not only can a picture be worth a thousand words, but a glance or look can be worth a thousand emotions, and the harshness of a sound can be predicated on the silence that precedes it. Without going too much into plot or character, it's important to give credit where credit is due. Ryan Gosling, the too-dreamy-for-words heartthrob of films like THE NOTEBOOK and CRAZY STUPID LOVE who is also the risk-taker of HALF-NELSON, THE BELIEVER, LARS AND THE REAL GIRL and THE IDES OF MARCH, is perfect as the nameless super-anti-hero of the piece. Every look, every glance, every gesture has purpose. The greatest acting talents are the performers who can speak volumes just by saying nothing at all, and this film is loaded with those performers. I call Gosling's character a super-anti-hero because there is something superhuman about this character. He can do just about anything he wants physically, and he can survive just about any assault, except for the emotional. And that's where Carey Mulligan comes in. Mulligan is by far one of the greatest young actors out there. She first really showed us that in AN EDUCATION, and continued to show it in NEVER LET ME GO, SHAME, and this film. She is picture-perfect innocence. You want to protect her, and you understand The Driver's urge to do so. Bryan Cranston, with the introduction of BREAKING BAD a few years ago, has been a revelatory performer. Who knew the dad on MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE would be one of TV's best serious actors? Not me. And his performance as the other half of the partnership with Gosling is small yet shining. Oscar Isaac as the doomed husband of Mulligan's character plays his ex-con with an immediacy and desperation and sense of inevitability. Ron Perlman as the small-time thug with delusions of grandeur is just pitch-perfect, proving once again that Perlman is a seriously underrated actor. Christina Hendricks is sultry, sexy and that's really all her role requires, which is sad, because I love her. However, the film, from a performance standout, belongs to Albert Brooks. We're used to Brooks playing the nebbish, awkward yet smarter-than-you character. We've seen it since MODERN ROMANCE, and through LOST IN AMERICA, BROADCAST NEWS and others. For Brooks to turn that image on its head and play the lethally efficient and pragmatically violent small-time crime boss Bernie Rose is beyond inspired casting, and the performance he turns in is as strong and chilling as seeing someone like Pacino or De Niro play a similar role. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor but not for an Oscar. In fact, infuriatingly, DRIVE was only nominated for one Academy Award: Best Sound Editing, which if you watch the film closely, it REALLY deserves, but it lost to... whatever; probably TRANSFORMERS or something. The other shining star of this film is director Nicolas Winding Refn. Being somewhat unfamiliar with his work prior to this film, I tried to watch the ultra-surreal BRONSON with Tom Hardy, and couldn't get through it from a narrative standpoint but appreciated its bravura. I haven't seen his other film, VALHALLA RISING yet, but plan to watch it very soon. It's probably more his film than any of the performers: His use of every element of the language of cinema is so deftly handled, from the sound to the picture to the editing to the performers, he achieves cinematic perfection. The film works on every level it's supposed to: Crime Thriller, Fairy-Tale Romance, Emotional Drama, Anti-Heroic Action, it does it all flawlessly. Another unsung hero of this film is Cliff Martinez, who does the Tangerine Dream-esque score for the film as another nod to those classic 80's thrillers. The simple fact of DRIVE is that this film was the purest expression of the language of cinema that came out of 2011. It never missed a moment to capitalize on that language, and it speaks it fluently and perfectly. This is, hands down, the best film of 2011.

This movie is awesome! In Mexico it was edited by Videomax, but the OAR is incorrect, thats why I've had avoid that edition. When I saw this another one I cant take off my eyes of it. The image and sound its perfect, the music wow, what else I have to say? Buy it. Esta pelicula es asombrosa saben, En Mexico fue editada por la distribuidora Videomax, pero el Aspect Ratio original es incorrecto, y por eso he evitado comprarla. Así cuando vi esta otra edicion no pude quitarme la idea de conseguirla. La imagen y el sonido son perfectos, la musica es genial, bueno que mas decir? Recomiendo conseguir esta edición.

Il y a encore quelques jours, j'étais réticente à visionner ce film pourtant décrit comme un "évènement hors du commun", un "OVNI cinématographique". Non, je ne me suis pas laissée "embrigader" tout de suite... ni par les chants du V8, ni même par les beaux yeux de Ryan Gosling ! J'ai laissé passer la ferveur et les clameurs de la sortie, pensant que "Drive" était probablement "encore un de ces films de mecs pour les mecs qui ont besoin de jouer à "vroum-vroum" pour impressionner les filles (mais qui ne pissent pas loin")... Et bien, j'avais tord. Rien, mais RIEN à voir avec un "Fast & Furious", "60 Secondes Chrono", ou autre road-movie pour adolescents torturés par les premières montées de testostérone. Adapté d'un roman de James Sallis, Drive frappe d'entrée par l'ambiance eightie's soulignée par une BO superbe (surtout "Nightcall", de Kavinsky), sans chichi, et franchement PLANANTE ! On est vite transportés par l'émotion et l'athmosphère du film, en tout cas c'est ce que j'ai ressenti... Plaira aux contemplatifs, rêveurs et ouverts d'esprit ;) Ryan Gosling colle au rôle à la perfection, avec une dégaine à la James Dean... (et ça, waow, rien à faire, je suis fan ! ;)) En face, Carey Mulligan (Irene) ; tous deux parviennent à faire passer l'émotion sans blabla ni pommade, ni sentimentalisme à 2 balles ou autre psychologie de bar... Dans le rôle des mafiosi locaux, citons Albert Brooks et Ron Perlman. Il m'a fallu néanmoins une petite réflexion à la fin, et je n'ai eu qu'une envie : revoir le film une seconde fois, pour me réimprégner de cette atmosphère si particulière. Et là, j'ai vraiment été CONVAINCUE par cette poésie mélancolique, cette ambiance noire et romanesque à la fois, qui ne s'embarrasse pas de superficialités ni de mots inutiles... par cet anti-héro emblématique et insaisissable, remarquablement interprété. En effet, sans le jeu des rôles principaux, sans la BO qui colle si bien au scénario (que l'on doit à Hossein Amini) et sans la réalisation géniale du Danois Nicolas Winding Refn (qui aurait par ailleurs été engagé sur le projet sur la recommandation de Ryan Gosling), le film n'aurait jamais atteint cette dimension fantasmagorique... (et aurait peut-être été juste un "film de gangsters/action/thriller/drame" vu, déjà vu et revu !) Ambiance, plans léchés et photo soignée... à mon avis, DRIVE est déjà un film culte ! Ce petit "bijou" pourrait même rappeler, pour certaines scènes, un certain "Bullit" (avec Steve Mc Queen, 1968). Bref, on adore ou on "trouve nul". Drive ne peut laisser indifférent ;) Enfin, notons que Refn a reçu le Prix de la mise en scène bien mérité au Festival de Cannes 2011. [...]

Drive ist ein grandioses Film-Noir-Movie, im Look der achtziger Jahre konzipiertes, stilistisches Meisterwerk, wie man es in den letzten Jahren kaum zu sehen bekommen hat. Drive ist sowohl leise als auch laut, brutal und gefühlvoll, vor allem aber cool. Im Vordergrund steht ein rätselhafter junger Mann, der Driver, von dem der Film nichts persönliches preisgibt außer der Tatsache, daß er ein außergewöhnlich begabter, bis ans Herz cooler Fahrer ist, der sein Können als Fluchtwagenfahrer bei Raubüberfällen vermarktet. Bereits die Anfangssequenz des Films belegt, wie man Verfolgungsszenen, die ja in unzähligen Actionstreifen bis zum Abwinken dargestellt werden, auch anders zelebrieren kann, ganz ohne quietschende, durchdrehende Reifen und Produktion von Massen an Schrott. Erst als sich der wortkarge, distanzierte Mann in die junge Mutter Irene verliebt, die unbeteiligt in den Reigen brutaler und sich exzessiv steigernder Verbrechen involviert und bedroht wird,zeigt er Emotionen, die sich bei ihm neben subtil reduzierten Gesten und Blicken auch in Form unerwarteter, eruptiver und kompromissloser Gewalt darstellen. Der ungemein begabte dänische Regisseur Nicolas Refn steigert die unterschwellige Spannung mit jeder Szene, ja fast mit jeder Geste, jedem Satz bis hin zu einem atmosphärisch - implosiven Finale, wie man es in dieser völlig unkonventio- nellen Form, die sich von allem löst, was Hollywood bisher zu bieten hatte, selten gesehen hat. Jede noch so spärliche Szene ist perfekt komponiert, Ryan Gosling holt aus seiner eher unidimensional konzipierten Rolle mit einfachsten Mitteln alles heraus und zieht die Blicke der Zuschauer gebannt auf die Regungen seiner Gesichtsmuskulatur. Seine Darstellung ist ebenso eine grandiose Bewerbung für den Academy Award [OSKAR]***, als auch die unkonventionelle,gerade deshalb so geniale Regiearbeit von Nicolas Winding Refn,dem es mit seiner ersten US - Produktion gelingt, die Zuschauer 90 Minuten und darüber hinaus in einem hochemotionellen, allerdings auch gewaltgeprägten Geschehen einzufangen. Der Film erhält von mir das Prädikat ,Gesamtkunstwerk mit Kultcharakter` *** Leider wurde der Film bei den OSCAR - Nominierungen übergangen..... [ 25.01.2012 ]

This was my first encounter with the talented Ryan Gosling and at the same time my second time watching a Nicholas Winding-Refn movie. The first I saw was Valhalla Rising and anyone who've seen that might know why I was a little worried going to the cinema for Drive. Putting it bluntly I still today consider Valhalla Rising the worst movie I've ever watched. And that's a shame because I love my countryman Mads Mikkelsen's acting. But to Drive's fortune I walked in expecting nothing much (lots of reviewers seemed to love Valhalla >.>) and I was basically in love with this new movie. Everything from the story of a stunt-driver doing illegal things during odd hours but I also loved the soundtrack and the acting (Bryan Cranston was a welcome surprise) and simply the character design. The almost mute Gosling was very interesting because you couldn't get annoyed by his person simply because he didn't give a lot of information about his personality - that and the few and far between "outbursts" where he showed his actual capabilities just mixed so well together. The movie has a short scene where topless women are on screen and there are a few extremely gory moments during the movie, but besides that it's mostly language and I would reccomend the movie to anyone looking for something slightly different from the typical Hollywood movie. I really liked this from start to finish and think most people should be able to get into it though it may seem slow if you're mostly in it for action scenes because this is mostly about the characters' stories and how they all go together. 5 stars, well worth the low cost ^_^