Drive

I haven’t seen a better film in the cinema this year. A dreamy, sad artsy gangster flick with an extremely charismatic protagonist and a perfect soundtrack. It gave me goosebumps, and more than once. Drive is basically a compilation of Refn’s previous films (I’d dutifully watched them all before). It’s like Pusher shot with the same slick cinematography of Valhalla Rising, spiced up with a blend of the music and the images of Bronson, and mixed with the ambiguous atmosphere of Fear X. A film that can be easily described as “beautiful”, even if fingers are smashed with a hammer, heads are shot and throats are cut. For me, a masterpiece without any flaws, but, as it’s been said, it’s certainly not for everyone. I’ve been playing “A Real Hero” on repeat for an hour. (16/09/2011)

Drive reminded me of the movie Collateral in its intimacy. Its story is incredibly subtle, but for the whole 100 minutes, I watched with bated breath and hardly moved, so as not to let go of the incredibly oppressive and minimalist atmosphere in the room. However, it was not just the story that made an impact, but a perfectly directed film in its essence, flawless in both atmosphere, visuals, and especially music, which works wonders with the movie. For example, I liked the opening credits with the music as I haven't liked any in a long time. The whole film had a momentum and Ryan Gosling even showed me fully who he really is and what a good actor is hidden in him. Thanks to this film, I will never forget him and I will look forward to every his contribution to the world of cinema. (07/05/2012)

An action ride that slams you hard into your seat and doesn't let go for a while. Suspenseful to the bursting point, more action-packed than Michael Mann, and packed with ideas to the last second. We've seen plenty of gangsters and silent heroes on the screen for some time now. But never before have I simply had to run back to the cinema the next day to watch a movie again – even if only to observe the continuity of the slow scenes or to savor every tone of the soundtrack. (16/09/2011)

This could have been such a calm and melancholic film. A nice methodical approach to life, no disturbing elements. And then the driver rides in an elevator with the cute neighbor and it all turns upside-down. Nicolas Winding Refn took a fairly typical pulpy, though still quite high-quality, screenplay, and transformed it into a meditation on the life of a not-entirely-normal driver/stuntman. Breathtakingly shot in nighttime L.A. (almost like my favorite, Mann), the glow of neon lights is framed by 1980’s style electronic music, but Refn flirts primarily with the noir genre, although this is a sunlit version, as absurd as that may sound. Blood spatters, engines roar and the silent, inconspicuous scenes involving the two love birds appear surprisingly significant. The cast is perfect. Gosling is surprising in the role of the silent Driver. Carey Mulligan is completely believable as the main protagonist’s fragile/strong motivation. And Bryan "Heisenberg" Cranston is an absolute chameleon. An inconspicuous hit that will grab your attention if you let it. You know the story about the scorpion and the frog? (18/09/2011)

For me, a completely bombastic demonstration of what a director with a vision can do from forgettable genre spectacles. Refn projected his fascination with inaccessible heroes, which is prolonged by passion and also by the fascination with stories in which the hero selflessly sacrifices himself. His pagan relishing of vibrations long after the main action of the shot is once again pure happiness, not to mention the beautifully shot car chases and captivating atmosphere of a Los Angeles night. Again, it should be underlined that for Refn, there is no main logic and story - these are just secondary links to the extremely strong scenes elaborated down-to-the-last detail. I look forward to the listing of all the nonsense that analyst viewers can bear, thinking that there is some consistency and story refinement in Drive. What fascinates me to the core: although this time the characters really talk a lot (they are Americans after all), the essentials about their motifs are expressed by Refn with a hint, gesture, facial expression. He simply remained Nordic, even in a field that is supremely "Hollywood". While it's a film with a completely accessible story, Refn made it into an uncontracted author's manifesto and a festival of subversive image-sound connectivity. I just love that Danish boy! Maybe he should make a Bond film. (07/09/2011)