As blood dripped down Ryan Gosling's face in director Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive the Cannes audience couldn't help but laugh. It wasn't a laugh as a result of something funny, it was a laugh of relief as this year's Cannes Film Festival has offered an abundance of diversity and Drive appears to be the aggressive, head-stomping capstone. But as violent and intense as this film can be, it has its share of honest laughs and silent moments, making for the best film I saw at this year's festival. As far as who deserves the credit — sit back — there are a lot of kudos to be handed out.
Let's begin with Ryan Gosling, who turns in stoic and steely performance as Driver, an auto mechanic, Hollywood stuntman and potential stock car racer that occasionally moonlights as a criminal getaway driver. Yeah, he keeps himself busy. Stone-faced and nearly emotionless, Gosling creates a character that's calm and cool under pressure, methodical, focused and reliable and, of course, one hell of a driver.
We're witness to Driver's skills at the outset, though this opening scene is merely a taste of what the film has to offer in terms of action-based entertainment, but it's as good a start as any. As the scene comes to a close Refn makes way for the opening titles, which are scrawled in the same font used for Prince's Purple Rain, which is only appropriate considering Refn's frequent use of '80s-esque pop music, a trend he welcomingly continues with Drive.
However, just as much as this film enjoys the unique punch given by its score and song selection, much can also be gleaned from what isn't heard. Driver isn't prone to mindless chatter and his character's silence harkens back to the rock hard heroes and anti-heroes played by the likes of Steve McQueen and Clint Eastwood. Men of action not words. Driver is that man, even in his more intimate moments as we come to know his lovely next-door neighbor, Irene (Carey Mulligan).
Irene lives at home with her son Benicio (Kaden Leos) while her husband, Standard (Oscar Isaac), sits in prison. Irene and Driver share an immediate, though innocent, connection, and as they grow closer to one another so does he to Benicio.
I'd be remiss if I didn't stop for a moment here to mention the scenes Gosling and Mulligan share. Primarily silent in terms of dialogue, these are scenes where more is said when nothing's said at all. I can't for the life of me think of a romance (maybe Before Sunset?) that placed so much confidence in so little being said. It's an absolute understanding of human communication by both screenwriter Hossein Amini and Refn and a lot of filmmakers and screenwriters could learn from it. Watch Drive Movie Online
Getting back to the details, the mood shifts when Standard gets out of prison as Driver is now on the outside looking in, but not for long as Standard owes some bad people a lot of money and in an attempt to help clear him of his debt and keep Irene and Benicio safe, Driver agrees to serve as wheelman during a pawn shop hold up. Unfortunately, for everyone involved, the heist goes incredibly wrong, leading to one hell of a car chase sequence that ultimately concludes with the image of Gosling's blood-splattered face I mentioned in the opening. It's ten minutes that are as entertaining as anything else I've seen at the fest over the last nine days.
Now, with a duffle bag of cash in his possession and a need to keep himself and those he cares for safe, Driver must figure out how he's going to turn the tide to his favor. Not one to mince words, Driver picks up a hammer and introduces another man to his a shoe as it pounds on his face over, and over, and over, and over again. If you thought Jessica Alba got beat up in The Killer Inside Me, I wonder what your impression of this poor bloke's demise will be.
It must be said, though, Drive isn't a one-man show. In fact, supporting performances by Albert Brooks (Broadcast News), Bryan Cranston ("Breaking Bad") and Ron Perlman (Cronos) are all excellent, each bringing their own bit of flavor to the feature.
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