Drive (I) (2011)

A mysterious Hollywood stuntman, mechanic and getaway driver lands himself in trouble when he helps out his neighbor.

Director:

Nicolas Winding Refn

Writers:

Hossein Amini (screenplay), James Sallis (book)

Stars:

Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 43 wins & 80 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ryan Gosling	...	Driver
Carey Mulligan	...	Irene
Bryan Cranston	...	Shannon
Albert Brooks	...	Bernie Rose
Oscar Isaac	...	Standard
Christina Hendricks	...	Blanche
Ron Perlman	...	Nino
Kaden Leos	...	Benicio
Jeff Wolfe	...	Tan Suit
James Biberi	...	Cook
Russ Tamblyn	...	Doc
Joe Bucaro III	...	Chauffeur (as Joey Bucaro)
Tiara Parker	...	Young Woman
Tim Trella	...	Hitman #1
Jim Hart	...	Hitman #2 (as Jimmy Hart)

Storyline

A mysterious man who has multiple jobs as a garage mechanic, a Hollywood stuntman and a getaway driver seems to be trying to escape his shady past as he falls for his neighbor - whose husband is in prison and who's looking after her child alone. Meanwhile, his garage mechanic boss is trying to set up a race team using gangland money, which implicates our driver as he is to be used as the race team's main driver. Our hero gets more than he bargained for when he meets the man who is married to the woman he loves.

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Plot Keywords:

getaway | garage | mechanic | neighbor | stuntman | 

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Taglines:

Some Heroes Are Real

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong brutal bloody violence, language and some nudity.

Details

Official Sites:

FilmDistrict [United States] MG Film [Croatia]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 September 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Drive - Gázt!

Filming Locations:

Saugus Speedway - 22500 Soledad Canyon Road, Saugus, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$11,340,461 (USA) (16 September 2011)

Gross:

$35,054,909 (USA) (3 February 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bold Films, OddLot Entertainment, Marc Platt Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

All the licensed songs (such as "Nightcall" by Kavinsky and "A Real Hero" by College) were released between 2007-2011, despite their retro feel.

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Goofs

During the initial chase scene, Driver takes off his watch and straps it to the steering wheel in the Impala. When parking in the stadium, he rushes out of the car, but later when he drives his own car the watch is back on his wrist.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Driver: [on phone] There's a hundred-thousand streets in this city. You don't need to know the route. You give me a time and a place, I give you a five minute window. Anything happens in that five minutes and I'm yours. No matter what. Anything happens a minute either side of that and you're on your own. Do you understand?
[pause]
Driver: Good. And you won't be able to reach me on this phone again.

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Connections

Features Daffy Duck's Quackbusters (1988)

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Soundtracks

"Tick of the Clock"
Written by Johnny Jewel
Performed by Chromatics (as The Chromatics)
Courtesy of Italians Do It Better Records

User Reviews

-Cinema fantastic-

A truly beautiful and hypnotic film.

I've seen the last few Nicholas Winding Refn films, and while I liked both Bronson and Valhalla Rising a lot, they were both "difficult" films, in that both structure, pacing and tone were bound to alienate some people, and of course they were both marketed as somewhat mainstream films while being anything but.

Part of the irony of Refn's situation is that he makes films about "Primal" man- and these protagonists invariably commit acts of great violence on those around them. This violence puts his films into the genre categories that Hollywood recognises and promotes to the public, resulting in trailers for Refn movies that grossly misrepresent the sophistication of the actual film. In that way, Valhalla's intense, slow-burning and almost dialogue-free mythic exploration of our savage past can be repackaged as a "Vlad the Viking goes to the New World" action movie.

Yet both Valhalla and Bronson were highly "directed" films, revealing a very strong hand in control of the material. And so, I was extremely curious to see what Refn would do with the material, and whether he would be able to rein in his sometimes obtrusive style in order to allow the story more room to breathe... I shouldn't have worried. I think the director has managed to balance a genuine artistry with the demands of the genre in a way that is rarely, if ever, achieved. I absolutely loved it. Just stay the hell away from the trailer, as it reveals far too much, and again, misrepresents the film's true "feel".

Driver has a tone of wry amusement at everything around it, much like Gosling's half-smirk, pivoted on the toothpick perpetually in the corner of his mouth. Schmucky gangsters and mob clichés provide some laughs, but the heart of the film is Gosling's portrayal of the unnamed? main character and his sweet, underplayed romance with Mulligan and her young son.

While an ethereal synthesizer-pop soundtrack provides an at-times tender,at-times mythic undercurrent, the car chases and action scenes, when they come, are tense, brutal and brief- far more Eastern Promises than The Transporter. Mulligan plays her character all trembly, wet-eyed, sweet and innocent and is swept away by Gosling's quiet strength and self-assured charm, while Gosling speaks little and remains a mystery to the end, though we never doubt his fundamentally good nature.

The seasoned supporting cast are all very fun, except maybe for Kendricks who is relegated to a fairly irrelevant part. Of course, this is really Gosling's film, and he inhabits the character completely, turning what could be a straightforward Hollyood tough-guy role into a complex and contradictory character, self-confident and physical, yet clearly lonely and possessed with a certain peculiarity and stillness, almost reminiscent of De Niro's Travis Bickle.

Visually the film is lush and gorgeous. Like Michael Mann, Refn and his cinematographer are able to instill LA with a sense of life and character that most directors just fail to do. Unlike Mann however, Refn opts for warm orange tones over Mann's hard blues, and in one particularly beautiful sequence the familiar LA cliché of driving down the dry LA river is taken to an unexpectedly joyful conclusion.

Despite its absolute craftsmanship, Driver is probably not for everybody, which makes me sad. People who prefer bald-headed muscle men slugging and wise-cracking their way into their wallets should of course stay away, as this bears very little resemblance to the standard Hollywood fare associated with the genre, and they might well be disappointed.

But for me, Driver was sweet, surreal, mythic, tense, fun, hilarious, revolting, and surprising. See it because it will make you a better person.

And so, 10 out of 10, because it deserves it.