|
Drive
| Released |
23 September 2011 |
| Director |
Nicholas Winding Refn |
Starring
|
Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Christina Hendricks, Albert Brooks |
| Writer(s) |
Hossein Amini |
Producer(s)
|
Michael Litvak, John Palermo, Marc Platt, Gigi Pritzker, Adam Siegel |
| Origin |
United States |
| Running Time |
100 minutes |
| Genre |
Action, crime, drama |
| Rating |
18 |
|
|
High octane.
Have you seen how many movies with the title Drive have been made? Lots! Ok so most of them are shorts and one is a documentary about women’s golf but it’s easy to see why it would be an attractive title, carrying with it associations of burning rubber, sun scorched streets and ice-cool leading men in the vein of Newman and McQueen. This is definitely the cache of cool Nicolas Winding Refn’s latest film is trying to break into. Just look at how the title is written on the poster; one word daubed across Ryan Goslings torso in a splash of hot pink. This is definitely a film aiming to be achingly cool and for the most part it succeeds!
Gosling plays a character who remains unnamed throughout the film but who is listed in the credits as Driver. By day he works in a garage while supplementing his income with some Hollywood stunt work and as a getaway driver by night. He is a solitary figure but begins to come out of his shell when he meets the pretty girl next door Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her son. For a while all is rosy but when Irene’s husband comes home from a jail sentence, Driver gets caught up in a heist that goes wrong and finds himself on the run for his life.
Drive is a stylish but schizophrenic film - a portmanteau of cool pilfered from all over the twentieth century. A dash of ‘80s electro music here, a touch of Chinatown-esque neo-noir there and a leading man whose costumes channel James Dean by way of Barry Gibb, king of the satin bomber jacket. Somehow, Refn manages to pull it all together thanks to direction that is as icily detached as its leading man. There seems to be a sheen over every surface and the scenes of sudden violence are filmed and played in an unemotional way. Things do heat up though when Refn lets loose his Bullitt influences in some impressive car chases wit innovative touches.
So it all looks great. Further to that there are some good performances from the male side of the cast. Gosling is effective as the tight-lipped enigma and Bryan Cranston and Albert Brooks are both standout in their supporting roles. The female characters are less interesting. Carey Mulligan is sweet but doesn’t have a hell of a lot to get her teeth into here - less a femme fatale more a fragile damsel in distress. Christina Hendricks as dishevelled gangsters moll Blanche had more potential but her screen time is short and without substance.
Nevertheless, I really enjoyed Drive - an exciting update on the heist genre that is easy on the eye, has a great soundtrack and brings in the shocks at just the right time.
-
Linda O’Brien |
