Drive (dir N.W. Refn)

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Fri May 20, 2011 2:26 pm

DRIVE is the story of a Hollywood stunt driver by day, a loner by nature who moonlights as a top-notch getaway driver-for-hire in the criminal underworld. He finds himself a target for some of LA's most dangerous men after agreeing to aid the husband of his beautiful neighbor, Irene. When the job goes dangerously awry, the only way he can keep Irene and her son alive is to do what he does best - drive.

Plot sounds like something that would hinge on the skills of the director and actors to be pulled off well, without that it's some straight to DVD action fodder. But Refn is a great director, and Gosling is a good actor. Cranston is in this too. Seems a bit more commerical than his previous work, but it's not a bad thing.

The first clip echoes Hill's The Driver or alternately an artsier and more restrained version of the Transporter. The tension is built well. Second clip shows an introverted detached main character who isn't really comfortable in dealing with other people - this again is an action movie cliche that can be elevated by good acting. It helps a lot that Gosling is a far better actor than fucking Ryan O'Neil, who played the same role like a piece of wood but that actually fit what Hill was going for.

I'm with it

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Positive A · Post by **Positive A** » Fri May 20, 2011 2:31 pm

Yes. I am all over this.

Mercuthio · Post by **Mercuthio** » Fri May 20, 2011 2:49 pm

apart from the very last scene, with the vomit inducing song, i thought it seemed cool. then when that song hit, it became corny.

i dunno, man.

Truth. · Post by **Truth.** » Sun May 22, 2011 5:31 pm

Refn won best director at Cannes for this

None · Post by **None** » Sun May 22, 2011 8:15 pm

Truth. wrote:Refn won best director at Cannes for this

Cysed and screwed.

Comedy Quaddafi · Post by **Comedy Quaddafi** » Mon May 23, 2011 5:24 pm

Refn always comes through. I have an irrational hatred for Gosling but I'm willing to reevaluate if he doesn't mess this up.

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Mon May 23, 2011 7:57 pm

Seems like my guesses were kinda close, if you consider The Driver (in itself a loose remake of Le Samourai) as the origins of what this guy calls neo-Melvillelian. Fuck a Collateral though, so overrated. Also

at japanese geometries... :

Cannes competition experiments with Venice-style genre programming with Nicholas Winding Refnגs tight thriller, Drive. A small story and a small production are offset by the גscope frameגs extensive, vibrant use negative space, big empty swathes of the screen used for popping shapes of color and light. There is more negative space then there are characters in the film, and that piercing anti-content re-invests the blank fatalism of Driveגs few people with a further emptiness, as if their vacant stares project out of their eyes pure, vacuous graphic abstractions.

A mostly silent Ryan Gosling plays a taciturn driving expertגhe works as a mechanic, stunt car driver, and a part time driver for heistsגwho falls, in a minimally emoting way (twists of a smile, unusual amounts of staring attention), for his cute neighbor (Casey Mulligan) before becoming inevitably entwined in her husbandגs shady background, requiring our man of restraint to become a man of violent.

But onward from the conventionsגL.A.גs suburban clutter replaces the volcanic, empty Nordic landscapes of Winding Refnגs Valhalla Rising, but the same social, human, and political emptiness of that imagistically stunning digital film is retained in this new setting by those who move through it. No film Iגve seen in Cannes has used color or the widescreen as well, the latter calling back to the sharp craft of Japanese studio genre masters of the 1960s, finding flares and geometries that please and complete (or incomplete) the cinema frame. But, in Drive, to what purpose other than to carve with precision fat free comic book imagery? The film has a neo-Melvillean quality in its restrained acting, its uncompromising people-just-doing-their-job, its mise-en-sc

Funky Butler · Post by **Funky Butler** » Wed May 25, 2011 3:15 pm

i dug both bronson and valhalla rising

need to see this quick

sun ra · Post by **sun ra** » Wed May 25, 2011 7:54 pm

my hopes are not massively high
it's probably a solid enough film and worth seeing.

still find that lynch-comparison silly,
like the one between brian de palma and hitchcock.

I stopped to read any reviews/cronics/etc.

360 · Post by **360** » Wed May 25, 2011 9:51 pm

This seems cool.

That first clip is kind of enthralling. I was sucked in rather quick and when it ended I got kind of pissed.

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Wed May 25, 2011 11:20 pm

sun ra wrote: still find that lynch-comparison silly,
like the one between brian de palma and hitchcock.

.

where's the lynch comparison? that's really a stretch. of any modern active directors this is probably closest to Mann's style

depalma actually admitted himself to being influenced by hitch, so that one is not as much of a stretch

Comedy Quaddafi · Post by **Comedy Quaddafi** » Thu May 26, 2011 6:19 am

Nothin' silly about comparing De Palma to Hitchcock.

We're not covering ourselves in glory @ Cannes, first Trier makes a stupid comment about being a nazi and then this...

AWAE · Post by **AWAE** » Thu May 26, 2011 6:28 am

pusher ruled
valhalla rising ruled

logans run will probably rule

this guy rules

sun ra · Post by **sun ra** » Thu May 26, 2011 6:51 am

drizzle wrote:
sun ra wrote: still find that lynch-comparison silly,
like the one between brian de palma and hitchcock.
where's the lynch comparison? that's really a stretch. of any modern active directors this is probably closest to Mann's style

depalma actually admitted himself to being influenced by hitch, so that one is not as much of a stretch

it wasn't just lynch, coen bros too.. was in an old article, maybe 2009..

I know de palma himself has admitted to consciously trying to emulate hitchcock. and to some degree at least, I do think refn was consciously trying to emulate lynch.. in fear x for example (that also owes a lot to the coen's barton fink, for reasons other than the billing of john tuturro I should add.)

but in the same time, de palma has always stated the main reason for this is that he thinks hitchcock simply invented THE most cinematic way to do suspense, and for that reason it would simply be stupid not to "learn" from the master. the way de palma uses hitch's techniques is very very different though.

and one of the reasons he gets compared/accused of plagiarism (depending on one's opinion) is that there simply are very few directors working that use pure visual storytelling (for suspense).. so he stands out

whenever that *does* happens with other directors almost always terms like "hitchcockian" are used as well.

Comedy Quaddafi wrote:We're not covering ourselves in glory @ Cannes, first Trier makes a stupid comment about being a nazi and then this...

the von trier incident was the alternative to show his dick to the journalists. provocation to the simple-minded. not the first time he's doin it. just a *major* one :>

Spartan · Post by **Spartan** » Thu May 26, 2011 7:06 am

Not meaning to derail this thread any further, but people are genuinely surprised by Hitch's influence in De Palma's filmography?

Comedy Quaddafi · Post by **Comedy Quaddafi** » Thu May 26, 2011 7:19 am

I don't see the Fear X - Lynch connection, in spite of everyone insisting it's there, maybe I didn't pay enough attention (it's a bit boring).

Positive A · Post by **Positive A** » Thu May 26, 2011 8:20 am

Im a huge gosling fan.

There. I said it. Feels good to get that out there...

Trademark · Post by **Trademark** » Thu May 26, 2011 8:41 am

who isn't a Ryan Gosling fan? Dude is fucking awesome.

Positive A · Post by **Positive A** » Thu May 26, 2011 8:52 am

Trademark wrote:who isn't a Ryan Gosling fan? Dude is fucking awesome.

Whew.

I know lots of people are aren't Gosling fans. The whole Notebook shit and some of the more romantic roles he's done. Even Blue Valentine (which I loved). And I understand that.

But he's easily in my top 5 working right now. Probably top 3.

sun ra · Post by **sun ra** » Thu May 26, 2011 8:53 am

Comedy Quaddafi wrote:I don't see the Fear X - Lynch connection, in spite of everyone insisting it's there, maybe I didn't pay enough attention (it's a bit boring).

you don't have to :) also, I'd wanna know who's "everyone" - I wasn't convinced by this either, to be honest. there are certainly echoes of lost highway and barton fink, but I didn't find it as successful as either. the pacing feels over-deliberate, the dialogue too sparse (and delivered mostly in a kind of mumbled monotone), and the overall sense of studied austerity bothered me, partly I think because I was unable to discover anything much beneath it. to be honest I even think fear x has more to do with films like de palma's '"raising cain" or "femme fatale"..

it was boring.. but it could have been a great film; for the most part it seemed to be moving towards something profound, or at least something poetic. unfortunately though, it reached neither, a shame because there were some really nice moments.

Comedy Quaddafi · Post by **Comedy Quaddafi** » Thu May 26, 2011 9:05 am

That was my main concern, it's a huge letdown at the end. That may have been intentional but it didn't really work for me. I like the idea but not the way it was done.

If you google Fear X + Lynch you will see that it's a very common comparison in every other review.

sun ra · Post by **sun ra** » Thu May 26, 2011 9:40 am

Comedy Quaddafi wrote:That was my main concern, it's a huge letdown at the end. That may have been intentional but it didn't really work for me. I like the idea but not the way it was done.

in the same way I also think the ending of "jacob's ladder" isn't satisfying, did you watch it?

both films are thematically the same: how can one accept something that is so unfair (fear x: the killing of his wife, jacob's ladder: being killed by one of your own soldiers)

both films in the end have the protagonist "invent" some kind of justification that's not true, for the sole reason to be able to accept this unfairness / cruelty of the world lol
(jacob's ladder: the ladder, fear x: the whole conspiracy plot)

so in both cases the macguffin becomes the dramatic conclusion of the plot.

Trademark wrote:who isn't a Ryan Gosling fan? Dude is fucking awesome.

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 1:42 pm

http://twitchfilm.com/reviews/2011/06/l ... ng-for.php

more praise

dude is hating on To live and Die in LA for no reason, that movie aged tremendously well

Spartan · Post by **Spartan** » Fri Jul 22, 2011 8:49 am

Trademark · Post by **Trademark** » Fri Jul 22, 2011 9:19 am

hOLY fUCKING CHRIST IN HEAVEN....

samdoom · Post by **samdoom** » Fri Jul 22, 2011 9:22 am

yeah, that trailer has me amped to see this

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Fri Jul 22, 2011 11:04 am

HA did i call it or what

i had no idea that shot of xtina hendrix in none's sig was from this movie

Spartan · Post by **Spartan** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 11:59 am

not one for paying much attention to imdb scores, but this has got to be a big exception for me. Drive has a 9.0 at the time of typing this.

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 12:03 pm

this and tinker tailer soldier spy is pretty much all i care about for the rest of the year new movie-wise

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 7:10 pm

chillwave poster is mildly disappointing though

should be a japanese drawing of gosling hitting hendrix' boobs with a hammer