Drive, as I have
been explaining it to my friends, is The
Transporter for those who would rather watch Taxi Driver. It’s the thinking-man’s action film for those that are
willing to classify a film as “action” even if it only has one or two short car
chases instead of a parade of them. It is for people who feel that the action
can happen in the quiet, tense moments between breaths, and are willing to
forgo special effect laden shoot outs if it means that there are ten extra
minutes of character development.
Director Nicolas Winding Ren has crafted a tense, gorgeous
film in the anti-hero genre, and the film is a love letter, or a throw back at
the least, to those films. Of course, he is aided immensely by the performance
of Ryan Gosling. Gosling’s portrayal of
a nameless getaway driver is immensely powerful. The character says very
little, but Gosling emotes so well during the silence that you can tell there
is always something deeper going on behind Driver’s eyes. Throughout the course
of the film, you learn nothing about his past, nor does he divulge any yearning
or desire beyond protecting a young woman and child, and yet you feel like he
may be one of the most fully formed characters cinema has presented us with in
years.
In fact, almost the entire cast feels more rounded and real
than most films, with only one exception. Ron Perlman, Bryan Cranston, Oscar
Isaac and Albert Brooks all portray characters that have goals and motivations
that stretch far beyond their small roles within the films and feel like they
existed before the film started. Ron
Perlman gave a fantastic performance, and was a joy to see in the few scenes he
had. The same goes for Oscar Isaac, who, while only have a few lines and
limited screen time, gave a depth to the character through his performance that
the script alone never could have given.
Having such a collection of powerful performances accented
the one weak link in the film, which was the performance of Carey Mulligan in
the role of Irene. In the film she plays the love interest, and is the unspoilt
flower in a world of grit, crime and greed. The problem was, she was given
little room to be anything other than that, and it made her appear all the more
one-dimensional because of it. This was sorely disappointing, as she is one of
only two female characters in the film (the other, played by Christina
Hendricks, gave a descent performance in a small role), and it gives the
illusion that she only existed in the script to be an object of desire and
something to be protected. When everyone
else is a strong, independent person with a reason to exist, Irene’s lack of
true substance smacks of the director or actress not knowing, or not caring
about, what to do with the character.
The film itself is a well put together piece of cinema. The
introductory chase scene is a tension fueled hook that sets the tone well, and
while the tension ebbs and flows throughout the film, it never truly goes away.
This makes the film an engrossing thing to watch, as it never truly lets you
go. Had the film been longer than its 100 minute length, it would have pulled
me to the point of exhaustion; however, it ended up being the perfect length of
sustained tension.
It is clear, from both a technical standpoint as well as the
performances that he brought out of most of the cast, why Ren won Best Director
at the Cannes Film Festival for this work. It is both a fascinating anti-hero
piece of film making, and is a great showcase for some of the talent involved,
with strong performances from the cast, a great soundtrack, and breathtaking
cinematography of the part of Los Angeles that was once the focus of filmmakers
everywhere that deserves yet another chance in the limelight.
Drive is a film that deserves to be
placed in the same echelon as the great anti-hero films of the past few decades
and is fairly close to quintessential viewing.
No comments:
Post a Comment