Manchester City Left Back Conundrum

Drive (2011): Another View by Rob Milarvie

Dir: Nicolas Winding Refn

‘There can’t be any good sharks?’

This quote epitomises the whole personified conundrum of The Driver, while possessing a distant exterior but subtly indicating homicidal capabilities just below the surface. Can his depth and actions when in the intentions of positivity make him a ‘good shark’? It’s a recurring theme when concerning oneself on the archetype of anti-heroes.

Aggressive protagonists with anarchic presences are something that typifies Refn’s body of work and he has certainly benefited from such a character choice. The rough edges of his previous films such as the brutal but brilliant Bronson and the Pusher trilogy certainly show this patriarchal narrative Refn enjoys sticking with. However this instalment appeared to contradict such a stereotyped protagonist we had set for Refn. The Driver (Gosling) reflects a calm and quiet character that keeps himself to himself and only exudes his contained emotions when listening to the radio driving in his car around L.A.  As Gosling’s character remained nameless throughout, it was in the hope to convey a purposeful depiction of a protagonist with an obsession for driving and that being all he is, a driver, nothing more nothing less.

The decisive element to why I enjoyed this movie was the imagery and cinematography, which are utterly gorgeous with high angles spectacles of L.A. The man behind these visual accomplishments is N Thomas Sigel who has predominantly worked alongside Bryan Singer but his debut companionship with Refn has certainly paid diligence with as I say beautiful camera pans and incredible car chases that are fully illustrated in the exuberant and exhilarating opening sequences.

It’s safe to say Gosling is one the best actors around in Hollywood at the moment, along with Daniel Day-Lewis, Fassbender and for personal bias, Benedict Cumberbatch. It’s tough for Gosling to topple Danny (The Believer) as his best performance but this certainly is up there as one of his most proficient. With his character having little dialogue while possessing a rather menacing interior, the acting to represent such an individual is crucial for the audience to understand the character’s plight and Gosling of course performs the task to an impeccable quality.

So basically, while trying to minimise the spoilers, the narrative begins with the thrilling sequence explaining The Driver (Gosling) has an incredible skill for driving and he receives nearly nothing more than personal gratification as a getaway driver or a driver in any situation. He also holds up additional jobs whereby he performs car stunts for action movies and fixes automobiles at a garage with Heisenberg. The narrative begins to pick up complexities for Gosling after he meets Irene (Carey Mulligan), his neighbour, as his cold exterior begins to deteriorate after each encounter with her and her son Benicio with sentiment beginning to become more apparent.

Circumstances arise after the introduction of Standard, Irene’s partner (played by Jason Isaacs), who draws a holt to The Driver and Irene developing love complex. The Driver is then involuntary forced upon a particular heist.  The consequences unfortunately affect local gangster figureheads played by Ron Perlman and Albert Brookes as Nino and Bernie.

Referencing back to my previous point about the change of Refn’s stereotypical lead character, he does however implement a supporting cast that reflects hostility. Purely embodied by Ron Perlman’s character Nino consistently shows this malevolent and tenacious obstacle for Gosling. Furthermore, gratuitous violence occurs multiple times unexpectedly throughout the narrative which definitely does challenge the audience’s palate for bloodshed. Incidentally, the violence represented on screen certainly juxtaposes the eloquent sequences of Gosling with Mulligan. Moments of this ilk provide signatures of Refn’s direction and indeed when all accumulated serve a purpose towards the underlying plot.

Lastly, Drive is a refreshing piece of film with excitement and enigmatic acting. Ryan Gosling seems to be improving upon every performance with Drive certainly being in the top 3 of his career so far. All the elements appear to work within this film, all from Carey Mulligan employing another innocent and fantastic supporting performance (very much like she did in Shame) to the somewhat original mixture of techno jazz-pop culminating into a brilliant soundtrack.