DriveBy Wilson Morales
Having come to the U.S with so much hype stemming from its debut at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Nicolas Winding Refn’s pulse pounding film, ‘Drive,’ is met with stunning adoration.
Starring Ryan Gosling in a Steve McQueen-esqe performance, this film plays like an unofficial tribute to Michael Mann’s films of the 80s (‘Thief,’ ‘The Keep’).
If you ever had to walk out of a theater and someone asked, “How was the film?”, the word “cool” would take on a new meaning!
Gosling plays a nameless Hollywood stunt driver who moonlights as a wheelman to petty criminals, only given his one-time bosses a fraction of his time to complete their heist.
“If I drive for you, you give me a time and a place. I give you a five-minute window, anything happens in that five minutes and I’m yours no matter what. I don’t sit in while you’re running it down. I don’t carry a gun… I drive.”
As he gets his assignments from his trusted mechanic Shannon (played by Bryan Cranston), Driver likes to keep quiet and maintain a low profile. As he meets his latest boss, Bernie Rose (played by Albert Brooks), he starts a friendship with one of his neighbors, Irene (played by Carey Mullgan) and her young son.
While it starts to look like he may found someone who can possibly change the course of his life, obstacles arrive in the form of her son’s father, Standard (played by Oscar Isaac), who’s returning from doing some prison time.
Just as he wants to continue his ‘normal’ life, complications further arise as he tries to help Standard get out of a sticky situation and agrees to lend his services. When things go awfully off-track, Driver finds himself using his skills to not only escape a contract put out on his life, but he also has to protect the lives of those who starts to care about.
From the start of the film to the end, Gosling gives an captivating performance. Here’s a guy who has a game plan to whatever he does and avoids being distracted. When emotions get the best of him, Gosling’s expression is on point. No dialogue is needed to convey his thoughts. What also works with the film is the supportive given by the rest of the cast, specifically Brooks, Perlman, and Christina Hendrinks.
If there’s a big compliment to the film, it’s the soundtrack. Talk about mesmerizing! During key scenes in the film, composer Cliff Martinez has injected an electric feel that it you happen to be a fan of film scores, it sounds reminiscent to Tangerine Dream’s music of the past. Also, the source music supplied by Desire (‘Under Your Spell’) and College featuring Electric Youth (A Real Hero’) are tunes you won’t stop playing on your Ipod.
Some may be disturbed by the level of violence in the film, but by the time the audience walks out of the theater, they will be spreading the word on how cool a film they saw and it’s worth the hype it’s received so far. If you have to modernize a film noir, Refn couldn’t have picked a better film to start with.
