The FAST aND THE CURIOUS words By Oliver Lunn mm, car movies. At one end of the spectrum you’ve got the high-octane, full throttle films à la Fast & Furious, Ronin, or even the more classic Bullitt; then at the other end you’ve got the more contemplative, moody films such as Chris Petit’s excellent Radio On or Monte Hellman’s Two-Lane Blacktop. Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive, however, comes somewhere in the middle – although, unlike some others, I feel it leans ever so slightly more towards the former films. And that’s no bad thing.
H
Ryan Gosling plays the “Driver”, a guy with not one, but three car-related jobs: one as a stunt driver in the movies, one as a mechanic, and one as a getaway driver for criminals. The narrative drive (yes that’s a pun) begins when he falls for the girl next door (Carey Mulligan), and we anticipate that things will go wrong. And they do. When the father of her son returns from prison he brings with him great debts, ones that threaten Gosling’s beloved. This he will not stand for. And the rest of the film is basically him saving the day When Gosling’s character is asked at one point, “What do you do?” he simply replies, “I drive.” And that about sums him up. Or does it? Like Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (another great car film), Gosling’s character has an innocence and kindness about him, yet we soon see that he’s capable of great violence, which, as with Bickle, hints at a troubled past. With both men we get the sense that perhaps they’re more comfortable in their car than out. But the comparison ends there. For one thing, we never see Gosling with a mohawk.
"Like travis Bickle, Gosling's Chara About him, yet we soon see that Alongside the laconic driver, we have Carey Mulligan as the love interest. And what a dreamlike, superficial love story it is. It only takes a few puppy-eyed looks and a drive through L.A.’s storm drains, accompanied by a sweet pop tune, to have these two fall for one another. But interestingly, this superficiality really worked and brought to mind the tone of Lynch’s Blue Velvet, with that wonderfully naff ‘Robins of love’ scene at the end. And actually, Drive’s basic story of a hero who saves a woman and her son from the criminal underworld is not too far off the backbone of Blue Velvet. Lynch came up more and more when I watched this the second time round: the slow fades creating layered imagery, the almost theatrical use of lighting (especially the spotlight on the couple in the lift scene), and above all, the music. Most of it sounds like Brian Eno’s seminal ambient record, ‘Music For Airports’. It’s synth-heavy, oscillating between light and dark moods, also recalling Angelo Badalamenti’s best Lynch scores. On top of these similarities, there are the hallways in their apartment block which are painted that same drab purple colour as Isabella Rossellini’s in Blue Velvet. The style and surface of the film is immediately attractive, with its colourful, glossy rendering of the L.A. landscape, In the opening sequence there’s an incredibly tense and exciting getaway chase, as the driver out smarts and outmanoeuvres the police on his tail. The style here is sleek and really not that far from some bigger Hollywood fare (especially with the dominant theme of heroism). Just throw in some pumping percussion and a few cheesy lines, and hey presto. So, while it’s not the big existential, arthouse road movie some would have you believe, it is an entertaining, stylish film with some thrilling action sequences, not to mention some convincing Gaspar Noé-style scenes of violence. But if you don’t trust me, and you’re still unsure about the film’s place among other car movies, then just watch it immediately after Petit’s Radio On. You’ll see what I mean.
Drive is released on DVD/Blu-ray 30 January
LOOK INTO MY EYES Ryan Gosling resorts to Jedi mindtricks to attract Carey Mulligan due to a deficiency in the good-looks department(Top). HOT LIKE FIRE TV star Christina Hendricks makes a stunning appearance in Drive, whilst sexily smoking a cigarette of course (Bottom).
cter has an Innocence and kindness he's Capable of Great violence"