David O'ConnellDrive
October 25th 2011 01:54
An understated mood piece crafted with meticulous attention to detail by Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive is the year’s most appealingly antithetical drama, full of allusive gesticulations but at its best in moments of reflection or acute observation. Adapted from a James Sallis novel by Hossein Amini and coloured with an 80’s vibe - from the garish pink titles to its musical choices (both source music and Cliff Martinez’s synth score) - Drive tells the tale of a man of few words with three occupations and a sympathetic eye for a pretty neighbour that clutters his life with complications.
As well as spending time as a legitimate mechanic for boss Shannon (Bryan Cranston), the nameless Driver (Ryan Gosling) moonlights as a Hollywood stunt driver. Then there’s his illegitimate work as a revered getaway driver for criminals. When he comes to the aid of a neighbour, Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her young son Benicio (Kaden Leos), the Driver unwittingly opens up a point of moral vulnerability that will place them all in jeopardy when Irene’s husband Standard (Oscar Isaac) is released from jail with loan sharks on his tail in need of recompense.
Gosling perfectly embodies the detachment of the not easily deciphered main character, a loner so composed as to appear robotic but with susceptibilities that are exposed in unusual, unexpected ways. Cranston is superb as his wearied boss, whilst Mulligan, as usual, effortlessly conveys a winsome down-to-earth appeal with every gesture. Neatly worked into the unfolding, overlapping narrative are a ruthless gangster, Bernie Rose (Albert Brooks, brilliantly cast against type), his offsider Nino (Ron Perlman) and a too-brief role for Christina Hendricks.
Refn’s genius is so often exhibited by his overstated masculine characterisations, like in brilliant recent films, Bronson (2009) and Valhalla Rising (2010). In Drive it’s often best exemplified through absent or delayed dialogue; then there’s the idiosyncratic aesthetic and stylistic choices, like a very late scene in which a physical battle to the death is viewed not entirely through direct contact with the participants but via concentration on their jostling shadows.
A handful of scenes are composed of jarringly exaggerated extremes, especially a scene in an elevator which swings alarmingly in tone; it may lack logic and motivation but is further audacious signposting of Refn’s creative flair and refusal to embrace conventionality as in delineations of good versus evil. Drive (2011) is a bleak, yet compelling, rewarding story told with precision - and one sure to stand up to the scrutiny of multiple viewings.
Drive is released in Australian cinemas on Thursday, October 27.
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