Drive (DVD/Blu-Ray) - Dir. Nicolas Winding Refn. Starring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston.
The getaway film genre is one with more than its fair share of masterpieces, and yet Drive might be the best I've seen.
It's a strange meld of film noire and flamboyant action - of shy dignity and queasy violence - that immediately feels like the most natural combination in the world. It reeks of style and confidence. It's not slow, but measured: not restrained, but controlled.
The plot is as minimalistic as anything else in Drive. Ryan Gosling plays a Hollywood stunt driver who works nights as a getaway driver for hire. After agreeing to the wrong job, he has to run for his life.
Like most bad decisions, this one involves a woman. Her name is Irene (Carey Mulligan), she has a charming young son, and her interaction with Gosling's character seems to consist entirely of the two of them staring and grinning at each other in awkward silence. Whatever - no one ever said communication was important in a relationship.
The movie is muted visually, too. It's sharp and pale, with flashes of color and violence that make the final aesthetic something like a combination of Quentin Tarantino and Blade Runner.
The film's sounds - and its hot pink opening credits - stand in stark contrast to its cold, ultra-modern style. Drive's music is dominating but serene: a heavily synthesized score and 80s-style (but fully contemporary) soundtrack laid over driving sequences that bridge the film's big moments like trance meditations.
The opening sequence - a "tactical" car chase that switches back and forth between slow tension and white-knuckle pursuit - establishes the film's recurring pattern of alternating action and calm, like a fat man taking deep breaths between bouts of yelling at his waiter. This is unfortunately the most flattering analogy I know.
The film's approach is as much about bringing opposites together as it is about contrasting them. It's thoughtful when it's quiet and mournful. It's thoughtful, too, when it's loud and spraying blood.
Ryan Gosling continues to show his range; this time he's a stoic knight with a startling dark streak. Bryan Cranston is given one of his meatier big screen roles as a mechanic/criminal talent agent for the main character. But the most inspired piece of casting is Al Brooks as a Jewish gangster - proving once again that there's nothing scarier than a comedian playing a villain.
It's a movie sure to be remembered as a classic.
Rated R for romantic head-stomping.
4.5 out of 5
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