Cast: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Albert Brooks
Directed by: Nicolas Winding Refn
Written by: Hossein Amini
Genre: Thriller

The Man With No Name myth is as old as time. It has been seen most effectively in films like Yojimbo (1961) and it’s Italian-American counterpart, Fistful of Dollars (1964), but remains an effective storytelling device to this day. Drive finds the mythological nameless man (Ryan Gosling) as a stunt driver for Hollywood movies, and a getaway driver on the side. New to an apartment building, he meets and falls in love with his young and adorable neighbor (Carey Mulligan) who is a single-mother. However, when her husband (Oscar Isaac) is released from jail, he puts his family in danger with an unpaid debt to the mob (Ron Perlman and Albert Brooks). To save the family, the Driver agrees to take on a job to square things off – a job that goes oh so horribly wrong.

Thrillers are often the most clichéd of genre films – with characters we’ve seen all too often, doing things we’ve seen a million times, for reasons we’ve endlessly experienced before – so it’s always refreshing when a Thriller elevates itself above banality. Drive doesn’t really do anything we haven’t seen before, however its incredibly economical script filters everything through compelling characters that act out of necessity instead of excess. Every moment of the film is emotionally charged with the intensity of survival, love, or in the best cases, a bit of both.

What isn’t advertised for Drive is its brutal violence that is sure to shock most audiences. There are moments of unrelenting, albeit quick, gore that is so utterly jarring it feels like a kick to the gut. However, it is utilized in a similar fashion as Pan’s Labyrinth (2007) in that instead of repelling us, it grips us like a vice and propels the story (or, in the instance of what’s sure to become “the famous” elevator scene, enlightens us of character while building a frightening mythos).

Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn won best director at Cannes for his highly stylized direction. His realization of the skillful script enhances the story in every possible way from visual symbolism to virtuoso action sequences. He also pulls tremendous and fearless performances out of his cast: a silent powerhouse performance from Ryan Gosling; an irrefutable tenderness from Carey Mulligan; and a surprisingly chilling performance from Albert Brooks as a ruthless and practical mobster.

Packaged in a hip retro-eighties leitmotif (complete with synthesized soundtrack), Drive is a noir-tinged art house film that will surprise.

USA. 100 minutes. Rated R.

Click here to read Blu-ray review.

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