Drive (2011)

The Driver doesn’t talk much. When he does, it is in very brief, precise sentences. We do not know where he comes from or where he is going. We only know where he is and what he is doing at this exact moment. His job: he is a Hollywood stuntman who specializes in car chases. His other job: a getaway driver for hire. While his employers execute a robbery, he sits in the car, waiting. When they’re done, he drives them away to freedom. He doesn’t even have a name that we know of, and in his conversations he comes off as shy and reserved. But if he has to get something done, he makes sure it happens, no matter how much blood is spilled. By the end of Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive, a man who at first seemed unassuming and efficient becomes a far more frightening figure. It is unlike modern action films in almost every way. Where others bombard the senses, Drive slowly builds the tension, and then—in a moment—snaps and becomes an incredibly violent tale of revenge. Only the violence here doesn’t feel devoid of emotion like most movies. Every gunshot and act of brutality in Drive packs both a physical and emotional punch; only in a film like this could a man getting stomped in the face feel like one of the most romantic moments of the year.

The Driver is played by Ryan Gosling, an actor who usually plays characters of a more effortlessly charming sort. Not long ago he was teaching Steve Carell the ways of womanizing in Crazy, Stupid, Love. Now he plays a cold, Man With No Name-type who will barely blink at the sight of bloodshed. We don’t know that at first. Initially, we learn he works at a garage with father figure Shannon (Bryan Cranston), and he helps him by performing car stunts in Hollywood films. He also seems to take a liking to his neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan), who is raising her son (Kaden Leos) alone while her husband (Sucker Punch’s Oscar Isaac) is in prison. Meanwhile, Shannon wants to get The Driver involved in professional racing, and he borrows money from the gangsters Nino (Ron Perlman) and Bernie Rose (an against-type yet brilliant Albert Brooks) to help finance the venture. Through a series of various events, The Driver winds up in the middle of a Heist Gone Wrong™ and now must punch, stomp, stab and shoot his way out of it.

This plot description all sounds very familiar, but Drive is not about the story so much as it is about the style and the performances. Like its protagonist, Drive does not say a word more than it needs to; few lines of dialogue are going to stick with you once the credits roll. The way Winding Refn and cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel shoot the action and character moments is what’s going to haunt your dreams from days to come. From the film’s opening shot straight through to the end credits, you can cut the tension at every moment with a knife. This is a film where not much may happen for much of the first third (outside of a superb opening getaway sequence), but danger always seems to be right around the corner even in the plainest of moments. The turning point in Drive comes with a single gunshot; I shan’t provide context, but this is the moment when the build-up ends and the bursts of violence become more frequent. Before this one shot, the danger lurked entirely beneath the surface, but at this point it becomes all too prevalent. And The Driver must react accordingly.

At the center of Drive is Gosling’s haunting performance. From moment one it is obvious that he is a three-dimensional character, but we don’t learn much about him because he doesn’t want us to. We know everything and nothing about him at the same time. He seems like the type who wouldn’t seek attachment, but in Los Angeles he seems to have found the first home of his life. However, he attracts far too much danger to remain in a state of peace for long. When we finally see the horrors that The Driver is capable of, it is a hypnotizing sight. This is no less than Gosling’s greatest performance; a brilliant and nuanced turn that evokes the equally violent anti-heroes of ’70s cinema. This all makes Drive sound like little more than a work of cinematic nostalgia, but this is a film that could only have been made right at this moment. It simply takes the more classical methods of shooting action and applies them to the modern sensibility. It feels like an absolute revelation even if little is wholly unfamiliar. The story may be earthly, but Winding Refn frequently makes the film feel wonderfully hallucinatory. It is undeniably tough-minded, yet it’s frequently downright beautiful.

Watching Drive is a thrill akin to watching one of the best Tarantino films for the first time. Like Tarantino, Winding Refn is obviously a man who truly loves the medium and history of film, and in many ways Drive feels like a concoction of several past film styles, albeit a slightly less self-aware one. The final result is able to transcend all of these individual genres and become a unique film experience that only Winding Refn could have made. Drive is just about a perfectly-executed genre exercise that serves as a reminder that most other filmmakers are just sleepwalking. Well-made, exciting films like this are a rare breed, but when one comes along it is an absolute bloody joy to behold.

GRADE: A


Drive will be released on September 16.