Nordling here.
Nicolas Winding Refn’s DRIVE is a slow burn film, the kind that isn’t really made anymore. It’s right at home with Michael Mann’s 1980s films THIEF or MANHUNTER, or William Friedkin’s TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. and the reason that many reviews are bringing up those films is because it comes very much from that aesthetic. There are languid takes, focusing on a character’s face as events happen in front of them. The camera especially lingers on Ryan Gosling’s unnamed Driver, as he assesses a situation or a person. It’s a testimonial to Gosling’s formidable acting that you can see his thought process in a scene without speaking a single word. Gosling’s Driver does have dialogue, but it’s minimal and to the point – when the Driver speaks, you better pay damn good attention, because he likely won’t repeat it again. Gosling has found that place in this performance that few actors seem to attain – he’s utterly, completely cool.
Some may consider DRIVE just a stylistic exercise, and for the most part, they would be right. DRIVE’s story is fairly boilerplate action/crime movie stuff, and plot wise the film doesn’t offer us much of what we haven’t seen before. But Refn’s style is so rich, so rewarding, that the film plays like crack for film lovers. The film opens with the Driver explaining the rules over the phone to a burglar – you get him for 5 minutes, and in that five minutes, the driver will get you out of harm’s way. If you’re early, or late, to the Driver’s car, you’re on your own. When the Driver picks up two robbers from the scene of a crime, the chase that follows is unlike most car chases seen on film before – most of them are just vehicles rumbling on the road, causing as much mayhem as possible, but Refn doesn’t go that route. He shoots much of the chase solely concentrating on Gosling’s face as he works on tactics, hiding, and only when he has to does he run the open road, full speed ahead. The film is very much like that opening escape – Refn plays it very close, but when he punches the accelerator, hold on, because it’s an exhilarating rush.
When the Driver isn’t running getaway cars, he works as a movie stunt driver in Los Angeles, and when he’s not doing that, he works on cars in a garage for his friend Shannon (Bryan Cranston). Shannon’s one of those lovable losers – down on his luck, but this kid, this Driver, simply can do things in his car that he’s never seen before, and he wants to take him on the racing circuit. Shannon, however, lacks the funds to do that, so he makes a deal with Nino (Ron Perlman) and Bernie (Albert Brooks in complete awesome badass mode), two local crime bosses. The racing circuit’s a legitimate enterprise, so all three of them see a way to get some money without having to break legs to do so. But life rarely works out that way.
The Driver meets Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her son Benicio (Kaden Leos), his next-door neighbors, and he takes a liking to them both. Irene’s husband Standard (Oscar Isaac) is in prison for robbery so Irene and Benicio are struggling a bit, so the Driver decides to help them out. He’s also falling a bit for Irene, but when she tells him that Standard is getting out of prison he backs off. But Standard needs some help of his own – he owes protection money for when he was in prison, and it’s time to pay up. The Driver reluctantly decides to help Standard by driving the getaway car for a pawn shop robbery. Standard’s heard from the guys he owes money to that this pawn shop’s got more cash than usual, so he decides to take the risk. But the heist goes bad very quickly, and the Driver must now protect the people he cares about from Nino and Bernie, who are out for blood.
We’ve seen this kind of plot before, but style is what makes DRIVE stand out, and Nicolas Winding Refn shoots DRIVE with beautiful cinematography, edits that take their time, and performances that are convincing and earnest. Gosling is pretty much a god in this film – when he unleashes hell, it’s quick, wordless, and direct. You can see why a stoic, quiet man like the Driver would be driven to violence to protect the likes of Carey Mulligan, who is radiant and believable as a struggling mother. Bryan Cranston plays Shannon with real empathy as a down-on-his-luck mechanic who sees something of real potential in the Driver, who just could turn Shannon’s losing streak around. Ron Perlman brings his customary growl to his character, and he’s terrific as usual.
But Albert Brooks deserves his own paragraph. His Bernie is a frightening man to behold when stirred to anger – he’s genuinely excited when Shannon brings the Driver around for racing and when things go bad and Bernie has to clean up the mess, he’s as scary as Jack Nicholson with the hatchet in THE SHINING. You get the impression that Bernie hates what he’s being forced to do but he does it without question and without hesitation. It’s a brutal performance and Brooks makes you forget all his past work here. Brooks is tremendously good.
I’m being a bit vaguer than it appears because much of the film is just best discovered on your own. There are scenes in DRIVE that just dropped my jaw in amazement – Refn knows how to use violence in cinema better than most living directors today and when it happens it always feels like a gut punch. It’s not gratuitous and it moves the story forward. DRIVE may be hyperstylized but it works completely. Cliff Martinez’s score is perfect, giving off that 1980s synth vibe, but it’s not used in a cheesy way. DRIVE is what going to the movies is all about, and quality-wise if this is indicative of what we’re getting, it’s going to be a hell of a fall. I’ll surely be seeing this one again.
Nordling, out.
