Drive (2011)

*While editing my Drive review, I accidentally deleted it, so here's a new, improved version*

Well there's not actually that much driving. Glad we sorted that one out. In fact, far from being the vehicular Bayhem that it's misleading marketing suggested, Drive is a sparse, stylised, noir-ish thriller with a strong exploitation edge and hints of existentialism that justifiably won Nicolas Winding Refn the best director award at Cannes.

Ryan Gosling (in his third film in as many months) is the unnamed and laconic Driver who works as a stuntman and mechanic by day, and getaway driver by night. His world expands beyond automobiles when he falls in love with his married neighbour Irene, whose recently paroled husband is in trouble with local gangsters. When Irene and her son are threatened, the Driver intervenes. It's certainly not an imaginitive plot, but Refn uses what he has to minimalist perfection. Gosling gives a terrifically subdued but intense performance as the soft spoken titular character, equal parts Man With No Name, archetypal knight in shining armour and Travis Bickle. Despite his inherently moral intentions in helping Irene, there is a borderline psychotic tendency hiding beneath the implacably cool exterior that rears it's head in the films explosions of extreme ultraviolence. In keeping with the minimalist feel of the film, the violence is scarce but excruciatingly brutal. It has been acknowledged by the film's makers that the Driver's scorpion jacket is a reference to the fable of the Scorpion and the Frog, and it certainly seems that there is something violent and uncontrollable in his very nature. The films supporting cast are also brilliant, with Mulligan sparking perfect chemistry with Gosling and Albert Brooks cast superbly against type as the unashamedly villainous gangster. (There's murmurs of a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nod for him)

But despite all this, it's Nicolas Winding Refn who is the real star. He has created something that is disconcertingly original, despite, or maybe due to the disparate elements of early Scorsese, seventies exploitation, urban western and vague existentialism on display. This odd blend sits together far better than you'd imagine, helped by the brilliant synth-pop soundtrack. There are certain moments in Drive that I will probably remember for the rest of my life, and if the film does have flaws, it is all the more interesting for them. In many ways the film resembles it's titular character: cool, laconic and seemingly simple at first, but with a brooding darkness under the surface.