Drive (2011)

Director: Nicholas Winding Refn                      Writer: Hossein Amini
Film Score: Cliff Martinez                               Cinematography: Newton Thomas Sigel
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Albert Brooks and Bryan Cranston

I bought Drive because it features the great Albert Brooks in a straight role, and that part of the film is fantastic. The film is an homage to the eighties in terms of it’s style, music, and look. Except for the modern cars and cell phones, the story could have been set back then. It concerns a quiet, unassuming man, Ryan Gosling, who works at a garage and part time as a stunt driver for films. But his side job is hiring himself as a getaway driver for criminals. He gives them five minutes to do the crime while he sits in the car, after that he drives off, with or without them. Living down the hall from him, is Carey Mulligan and her small child. After helping to fix her car at the grocery store, it’s clear they like each other and begin spending a lot of time together. Eventually, however, life interferes.

The film opens with Gosling talking to a client on the phone. He gets a modified car and then pulls up in front of a self-storage building. Two men across the street head over and break through the fence and go inside. Gosling sets his watch. When the men emerge, he takes them on a fascinating evasion of the police, unique because a lot of his time is spent parked with the lights off waiting for openings to move through. Ultimately he parks a few minutes later in the lot of the L.A. Coliseum just as a Lakers game is ending, then puts on a Lakers cap and just walks away. The next day when he is seen wearing a police uniform, it’s quite a jolt, but he is simply working on the film lot driving a police car for one of the stunts.

But there is another entire layer to the film that is terrific. Part of the Jewish mob in L.A. is run by Albert Brooks, going against type as a gangster. He’s magnificent, especially when he has to get involved in the messy end of things--and there is plenty of mess. He runs the business out of an Italian restaurant run by his crazy lieutenant, Ron Perlman, as well as doing business with Bryan Cranston who owns the garage Gosling works at. When all three threats of the plot finally come together around Gosling the tension is almost too much to take. Danish director Nicolas Refn has had a successful career writing and directing these types of small, intense films, but his association with Gosling makes him seem destined for bigger projects. He’s already done another film with the actor, Only God Forgives, which has just been released in theaters and we’ll have to wait and see how it does in comparison.

The style is very distinctive, dark and quiet through most of the film, similar to Michael Mann’s Collateral. Gosling’s character is taciturn and tough, but underneath is definitely a protagonist that engenders sympathy. The music by Cliff Martinez is very retro, tense and minimalist, harking back to films like American Gigolo or TV’s Miami Vice, and the pink script font of the titles reinforces that association. The only flaw in the soundtrack comes with the operatic song at the climax that jolts the viewer out of the scene. And in some ways the conclusion is a little disappointing. But together with the rest of the film it’s only a minor diminishment in a strong production. Ultimately, sitting in the passenger seat with Ryan Gosling, Drive is an incredibly suspenseful and satisfying ride that will stay with you for a long time.