The Tempest : Buckle up for ?Drive?

Photo Credit: Odd Lot Entertainment

Mitchel Bobo, Staff Writer
October 5, 2011
Filed under Arts & Entertainment, Movies, Reviews

Based on a 2005 novel of the same name by James Sallis, ?Drive? is a movie from Director Nicolas Winding Refn (in his American filmmaking debut) that captivates audiences from start to finish. Ryan Gosling (yes ladies, that?s Noah from ?The Notebook?) is mesmerizing as the film?s catalyst; an unnamed Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a getaway driver. The dialogue is at times minimal yet extremely powerful with each actor excelling in their character portrayals.

Gosling and actress Carey Mulligan make for one of the most powerful screen duos in recent memory. Bryan Cranston of television fame (?Seinfeld,? ?Malcolm in the Middle,? and ?Breaking Bad?) is most impressive in his turn as Shannon, the Driver?s employer in both legal and illegal jobs. Cranston plays his character with a sense of desperation eluding to a man entertaining his last shot.

Driver is a loner bouncing from hotel room to hotel room, job to job, and heist to heist, never taking the time to stake his claims in anyone or anything. However, upon moving to a new apartment complex, he meets Irene (Mulligan) and her young son Benizzio. Initially reluctant to entertain the pair, he grows to care for Irene and her son as their friendship begins to hint at a romantic turn. That is until the return of her husband Standard (Oscar Isaac) recently released from jail. Standard?s efforts to go straight are thwarted by thugs demanding he do one more job to settle his debt. Out of concern for Irene and her son Driver offers to help Standard in the ensuing robbery.

The film is nostalgic of B-movies of the ?80s and the noire genre of times passed. Yet ?Drive? gets A?s across the board. The movie coming from a foreign director is seemingly just that. It?s foreign in its quality, as so many of us are subjected to the stale cinematic workings that have become so common in Hollywood today, and foreign in its approach, as the movie is seemingly the work of a completely different caliber of film and filmmaking. American directors could learn a thing or two from Nefn?s cinematic stylings. Cast, dialogue, soundtrack, direction, and screenplay all of the highest order are common place in ?Drive.?

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Source: http://www.solanotempest.net/arts-entertainment/2011/10/05/buckle-up-for-drive/

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