Drive Review
By: Joshua “My partner is a belligerent asshole with his back up against a wall, and now, so am I” Richey
Drive is a film that is unlike any other that you’ll see this year. It’s a hard film to describe really. Telling someone about Drive can only result in you sounding like a crazy person. It’s a throwback, yet it’s also a breath of fresh air. It’s a love story, yet it’s also a very sad tale. It’s the story of a hero, yet it’s also the story of a man that has a dark side. One thing is for certain though, Nicolas Windling Refn’s Drive is one of the, if not the, most memorable films of 2011.
Drive is the story of a driver (Ryan Gosling), a soft spoken auto mechanic from Los Angeles that has multiple fascinating side jobs that he pulls off with the advisement of his friend, Shannon (Bryan Cranston). The driver, like Shannon before him, does car-related stunt work for Hollywood, but the real money comes from being a wheelman. For an upfront fee, The Driver offers his driving skills to clients with a 5 minute window. In five minutes, you either go in and complete the job or he’s gone. He won’t wield a gun for you; he won’t participate in the act itself; all he’ll do is offer to get you from Point A to Point B without being arrested.
The character of the driver is easily one of the most compelling characters that I’ve ever seen in any film. You never learn his name. Even the man that knows him best, Shannon, his boss and mentor for 10 years, refers to him only as “Kid” and gives off this vibe that perhaps he doesn’t know much about the driver either. Who is he? Where did he come from? What happened in his past to make him the way he is? We never know. All that we do know is that this guy isn’t too keen on human interaction and that he can drive a car like no other. But it’s when the driver meets his neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan) that the first signs of a personality shine through. Irene, a single mother working as a waitress at the local coffee shop, takes an immediate liking to the mysterious driver. The driver, a natural loner, also takes a liking to Irene and her son, Benicio. Just as things between the two get going, and just as these two individuals are about to start something that will make them both happy for the first time in a long time, Irene gets a phone call from her lawyer. It appears that Standard, Irene’s imprisoned husband, is going to be coming home next week. Whatever fire burned between Irene and the driver promptly gets extinguished. There is no fight; there is no drama; there’s nothing. It’s just a natural understanding and acceptance. The Driver, like a gentleman, steps aside.
It’s at this point in the movie that you would expect Irene’s husband, being that he’s getting out of prison, to be some sort of a scumbag, someone that we can root against. You would expect that this movie would suddenly become a story of The Driver trying to free the woman he loved from an awful husband. But that never happens. Drive takes that old clichéd story and turns it on its head. As it turns out, Standard is a very likable character. He got into the wrong crowd, he got into trouble, he lost everything that was important to him, and now he’s just looking for a second chance. You can’t help but to root for the guy. Standard is so likable that even the driver himself is happy to see him reunited with his family. The driver and Irene’s relationship at this point is little more than lustful looks and silence. The driver arrives home one day to find that Standard has been beaten and is lying in a pool of his own blood in the parking garage as his son Benicio looks on. Life in prison wasn’t kind to Standard and he ended up having to make some promises for protection. His desire to set his life right and be a family man didn’t set well with those that he owed money to. The driver’s love for Irene and Benicio makes him step in. He approaches those behind the assault on Standard and offers to be the wheelman for Standard’s one final job in return that his family is left alone. All of the parties agree. Standard will rob a pawn shop for $10,000, The Driver will get him out of there, the gangster’s will have their money, Standard will be off the hook, and The Driver will have the peace of mind of knowing that the woman he loves will be safe. Then everything goes wrong.
It’s probably pretty obvious at this point, but I loved this film. As you can tell, I get excited to talk about it. It’s such an unconventional movie. The character of The Driver, and the performance put on by Ryan Gosling, makes it so mesmerizing from start to finish. Everything about this movie, the look of it, the acting, the pacing, the score….it’s perfect. Just perfect. Each scene is filled with a tension that I’m not even sure I can describe. The Driver and Irene can be sitting in her living room, she can come in from putting Benicio to bed and tell The Driver simply “I had a nice time today.” There will then be 15-20 seconds of awkward silence until The Driver replies, “Me too.” It’s an effect that is constant throughout the entire movie, but gives you a real sense of just how hard it is for this mysterious man to let his guard down, even for the woman he loves. Then there is the development of the driver character himself. His evolution throughout the film will touch all bases. You’ll start off by not knowing whether to like him or not, then you’ll like him, then you’ll think that he’s a badass…but then, again, just as you begin to think you know where this movie is going, it throws you a curveball. You’ll go from thinking the driver is badass to you thinking that he’s crazy. The movie ends with you feeling the same way that you did in the beginning: “Do I like this guy or not?” When Irene’s safety is threatened and he snaps, is he being heroic or psychotic? Maybe it’s a little of both.
Go see Drive. I cannot recommend it enough.
I give Drive 5 creative uses of a curtain rod out of 5.
