#31 Movie - Drive

From one mood piece (Melancholia) to another! Drive is a moody character study disguised as an action movie.  And the main character that we get to study doesn't even have a name!  He is simply known as Driver.

Driver is a Hollywood stunt driver by day who appears to live a quiet and possibly lonely existence in his small apartment.  This is occasionally broken up by the odd getaway driver job organised by his agent (played well by Bryan Cranston of TV fame for Breaking Bad and Malcolm in the Middle).  When he meets an attractive young woman with a young son in his apartment building and begins to care about them both, he gets involved in some criminal goings-on when her husband returns home from jail.  Owing protection money, Standard needs to do one last job to get off the hook and Driver offers to help.  Nothing goes to plan from here on in.

So far so typical Hollywood action movie right?  Wrong.  Driver is buff (as played by Ryan Gosling fresh off his Crazy Stupid Love "airbrushed" look) but he is no action man in the style of Arnie, the Rock or Jason Statham.  He is just a generally good hearted young guy with a talent for driving who happens to have a slightly "off" moral compass.  Ryan Gosling apparently had a lot of input into his character and chose to play him as the strong, silent and complex type.  Emphasis on complex.  This is a guy who can literally explode from nothing to violence in the name of protecting someone he cares about.  I found the strong violence quite confronting (as did those around me judging by the oohs we were all making) but thankfully infrequent, but the motivation behind it is even more confronting.  How far should you go for those you love?  Hmmmm, good question.

One of the best things about the film other than Gosling's amazing yet understated portrayal of Driver is the overall design and cinematography.  The film has a slight 80s style bluish sheen without being set in any particular year.  The driving scenes and car chase are excellent and the soundtrack contributes to the 80s feel being slightly electronic and robotic.  I've had one song in particular in my head for over a week now.  A perfect match for Driver then.

The supporting cast are all okay, with Ron Perlman (everyone's fave Son of Anarchy) and Albert Brooks as the LA gangsters that Driver gets caught up with, and Carey Mulligan as out of reach love interest Irene.  However all of them really take a back seat (pardon the pun) to Driver as we follow his twisted quest for justice.

I really liked this movie but it is a bit of a downer I think.

I'm sorry to only review this one now, as it appears to no longer be in cinemas.  I can only say that I saw it late in its run, but you should definitely catch up with this on DVD if you like the sound of it.