Movie Review: Drive

Ryan Gosling and director Nicolas Winding Refn got a lot of attention for Drive, the story of a young man with a gift for driving who does some stunt driving, some racing and some getaway work. He has no name, and is known in secondary sources as Driver.  Seeing his pretty neighbour (Carey Mulligan) needing help, he befriends her. A week later, her husband is released from jail and moves back in. They're not a perfect match, but he's a pretty good guy wanting to go straight.  The trouble is, he's got old debts that need repaying. So he takes on one last job because Driver offers to help him.  Things go horribly wrong, leaving Driver with a lot of money, and trouble with two crime syndicates that lay claim to it. Can he get square? Will cool nerves and discipline and timing be enough?

This is an interesting film to watch after hearing it built up.  Coming in cold, I would have regarded it pretty highly, because the story is always surprising you and the emotional story is simple and well told. There are no wasted words, no wasted scenes, no gore spared.  It sits somewhere close to a western, and the violence was extreme.  The structure and story resolution are not upbeat, but satisfying.

Some things that didn't totally satisfy - the score is largely techno, and it works well for the half of the story that happens in the dark, but in some of the rundown motels and diners it just seemed a little thin and clean - also, there's nothing of the calibre of Oxygene.  There's an air of unreality about some of the car sequences: reverse doesn't go that fast; and cars that slam their foes in the side don't retain working headlights.

The character of Driver is very close to my vision for Langley, a character in the screenplays I've been working on.  A man of great ability, curiously blank, hard to read yet straightforward, emotionally vulnerable and tightly wound but holding it together coldly, and struggling with old men and economics to carve out some secure space, to get a place in the world.  I wonder if this is a new type we will see more of.  It's not exactly coming of age, because he's come of age and is an omni-competent adult. But after you come of age, life is still a struggle, and if you fight well and are lucky, you might come out even.