Movie of the Month - May - Drive

I don't drive. If I did, there would be thousands of causalities. Oh My God. What If I drove over an animal? But I enjoy sitting in the car, while someone who knows what they are doing is driving. It's so relaxing. You have music on and you see all those places and people through the window. It's especially amazing at night.

Watching Drive is a bit like that, except you are sitting in front of the screen watching the movie. But it completely captures the vibe - the film has an amazing style, but the style never hides the substance. Drive is one of those movies that are destined to become a classic - it's the kind of story that is both intriguing and entertaining. And all of that because of the protagonist.

Drive

89/100 (100 min, 2011)
Plot: A mysterious Hollywood stuntman, mechanic and getaway driver lands himself in trouble when he helps out his neighbour.
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Writers: Hossein Amini (screenplay), James Sallis (book)
Stars: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan and Bryan Cranston

"There is always some madness in love. 

But there is also always some reason in madness."

— Friedrich Nietzsche 

 "Whatever is left of me, whatever is left of me...I'm yours."

"Drive", the movie sensation of 2011, has swept away most of the people who have seen it. Why? Stylistically the movie is just amazing - from the very first minutes the pictures just flow into the night, with shining, blurred lights in the distance and you get the feeling as if you were driving along with the main hero. The film never loses its dreamy, evanescent quality - the camera movements are steady and the takes are long, the images just flow before our eyes creating one breezy atmosphere which is curiously contrasted with the violence and the gore that we occasionally see in the movie.

What adds to the film is another reason for its popularity - the amazing soundtrack consisting of original score by Cliff Martinez, which for some reason brings to mind driving on the empty streets during night. The album also contains great synthpop pieces that feel very old school and may as well be something which Quentin Tarantino would love to use in certain scenes in Kill Bill Volume 2. From the beginning to the very end, the movie never betrays the amazing climate it established, pulling as deep into the story as if it was a dream.

Soundtrack Wednesday - Drive

Song: Under Your Spell
Artist: Desire
Movie: Drive

Scene of the Week: Drive

Drive

directed by Nicolas Winding Refn

The scene: When the driver (Ryan Gosling) gets in the elevator with Irene (Carey Mulligan) his neighbor he is falling in love with and unkown man he suddenly notices a gun in the man's pocket. Knowing that the man was sent after him and Irene, the driver pushes her to the end of the elevator and decides to kiss her - for the first and last time - before he begins senselessy kicking man's head and killing him. Irene, previously oblivious to the fact the driver is capable of unimaginable violence slowly exits the elevator and stares at him shocked, while he looks apologetic knowing that even though he just saved her life she will never look at him the same way as before.