It’s not about the money. It’s not about the girl. It’s not about revenge. Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive serves one purpose. It drives.
Drive is a smart, colorful and deeply personal story of a man who, with the help of a stolen blue Mustang, is able to free himself of guilt, clean his dirty hands and ultimately become what the background music was hinting at since the beginning: “A real human being and real hero.”The driver, played by Academy Award Nominee Ryan Gosling (“Half Nelson”) steers the show with a powerhouse of raw talent pumping out of every gearshift and getaway.
The opening shot of the film drifts into the home of the driver, past the tall, lanky figure who is gazing out across a dimly lit L.A. He is explaining in a firm tone exactly what it is, that his service provides:
“You give me a time and a place. I give you a five minute window. Anything that happens in that five minutes, I’m yours, no matter what. I don’t sit in while you’re running it down. I don’t carry a gun. I drive.”
This is the closest we are ever allowed to look into the driver’s life. He is nameless, and makes as few human connections as he can. He spends his life driving, whether it’s inside or outside the car, he treats everyone in his life like a driver in another lane.
This is what sets Drive apart from the typical, hot-headed action flick. This film shows you the rawest sliver of human relationships.
At this point you’re hooked, and we’re only five minutes in. You want to know more about this mysterious character than the film will ever tell you. It’s only when the driver forges a real human relationship that things get kicked into second gear.
Irene, his neighbor, is played by Carey Mulligan (“An Education”), who portrays almost the same odd and empty vibes shown by the driver. Her husband and her son Benicio’s father, Standard Iglesias, has been in prison for most of his son’s life and is now finally getting out.
Standard, however, got tied up with some L.A. thugs while he was in the joint. This puts the entire family endanger.
This is where the driver steps in.
He promises to help Standard get rid of this dark cloud looming over the family, no matter what it takes. He asks for no money for the job, just the safety of the family he has grown so close to.
After this, things get messy. But, just as the tagline of the film promises: “There are no clean getaways” This film is a neon flash of tightly-bound intimacies and sharp, 80’s cinema ‘blood and guts’ brutality, which all contributes to the formation of a very real hero and a stunned and bewildered audience.
Drive is a new breed of film, lacking any type of genre or categorization, and is, so far, the best of the year.
This film is rated R with a run time of 100 minutes.
