Year: 2011
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Writers: Hossein Amini, James Sallis (book)
A man who works as a stuntman, a mechanic an a getaway driver, falls for his neighbour, who is married to a man in prison. When the husband gets out of prison, the driver tries to help him, but only finds himself in deep trouble.
I actually just started watching this movie without knowing anything of the story. It just seemed like a popular movie, and people have been saying great things about the soundtrack. And even though I am not a big fan of Ryan Gosling, I kind of wanted to see what kind of role he had this time. I've only seen him in one movie before, and that was The Fracture, where he played an attorney. Well, his role in Drive was definitely different to that.
And since people have said great things about the soundtrack, I decide to write about the music first. The music was sort of odd, and it had a fantastic effect on the movie. With another kind of music, this could've been closer to action than drama. I like the direction they went with the music, the soundtrack was very cool. My favourite songs from the soundtrack are Nightcall by Kavinsky, and A Real Hero by College & Electric Youth, both songs and the rest of them affected the movie a great deal, they were very well chosen. I've noticed that "odd soundtracks" are usually the best ones, because they are different from the really basic soundtracks that are nowadays hard to even notice.
The cinematography in this movie also was really good. Both composition and colours were very pleasing to the eye. The visual side of the movie, like the rest of it, seemed like they were very carefully planned.
And yes, usually everything in movie is carefully planned, unless the plan was not to carefully plan every little detail. But usually movies that have violent scenes don't make those scenes look like they were carefully planned. Usually violent (action) scenes seem a bit messy. In Driver even those scenes were clear, and it felt like every little movement was thought about before it was done. It had a sort of effect to the movie as well, everything seemed slower. (Still they didn't make the movie too long, now that's something some editors / directors should take a note of) But then again it made the violence bit too detailed, bit too clear. Usually I don't mind the violence, but this time I did. (Might be because of the movie, might be just my current state after current events, who knows.)
The plot and the story of Drive stand out somehow. It's not the most original story, but somehow it sticks out of all the basic shit Hollywood throws our way. It's not the best story, but it was surprisingly good, thrilling and entertaining. One thing that made the story stand out was the main character. The main character was mysterious, and didn't really talk too much. Neither had he an inner monologue. There was no way for the audience to get inside his head, which was actually very interesting. I had no idea what the main character was thinking, he wasn't even the narrator... It was marvellous. There was a sort of distance to the character, a distance that is so effective, but isn't used enough.
The main character actually made me think about the book. I haven't read it, but I am really curious about how it's written. If the main character doesn't have a name, if the main character is not the narrator... How? Or is the movie vastly different from the book? If someone knows the answer to these questions, let me know, as a writer I just need to know.
Drive was an excellent movie, a nice combination of entertainment and art. It may not become my favourite, but I definitely won't regret seeing this movie.
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
8 / 10
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