Drive

The Driver (or “The Kid” as he’s sometimes called) has no real name, at least nothing that’s ever spoken. He is what he does, and that is drive cars. When he’s not being paid to do so as a movie stunt man, he’s paid by criminals as a driver-for-hire. He feels little attachment to others and speaks even less. Still, beneath the silent exterior there’s a hidden depth where he keeps his moral convictions and code. This kind of hero is familiar, if a bit old school. The Driver is clearly modeled after characters like Steve McQueen’s Frank Bullitt, Clint Eastwood’s the Man with no Name, Toshiro Mifune’s Yojimbo, or even Alain Delon’s Jef Costello. In this case, where his true nature is revealed comes from his associations with his neighbor Irene and her son, Benicio. Even though the title is Drive, there isn’t actually all that much driving to be seen in this movie. There are a few chase sequences, and they’re well shot with no visible use of CGI, but the bulk of the movie follows the Driver as he interacts with Irene and her son, which allows him to display a hint of his humanity, which seems to be something that hasn’t surfaced in a long time. The first reveal of the character is while he’s working. The movie even begins with him firmly explaining the rules that go along with hiring him. It reminded me a little of The Transporter, but luckily the similarities end there. While on the job, we see the way in which he drives. He’s a true professional, and is not about long and over-the-top car chases. Instead, we see him triumph over the police through his knowledge of the streets and ability to blend into his surroundings (he even drives a Chevy Impala). The characters are crucial to the flow of the story, and it’s refreshing to see their importance placed over the need to meet expectations of the typical car chase movies. The cast is excellent, featuring Ryan Gosling as the nameless stone-faced protagonist. Although Danish director Nicholas Winding Refn adds a lot of style to the film and really tries to present Gosling as a tough character to match some of the examples I compared him to, he never quite reaches those heights. The character works, but Ryan Gosling doesn’t have the same screen presence as, for example, Steve McQueen does. Maybe he’s just too young, but he lacks that look of someone who’s had a lot of bad experiences and a tough past. As Irene, Carey Mulligan is adorable and fits the part of her role (though it’s a bit difficult to imagine how she ended up married to a criminal), and Bryan Cranston also gives an understated performance as Shannon, the man who hired the Driver and repairs/modifies his cars. The real scene stealers come from the bad guys however, who run a local pizza joint in L.A. They represent a Jewish sect of a larger mob family apparently, with Albert Brooks’s character being a former action movie producer turned organized crime boss. He’s in no way meant to be humorous (and trust me, he isn’t), and his partner is played by the always entertaining Ron Perlman, a mobster who resents the small time operation he runs with Brooks on the west coast. The two of them are vicious and ruthless killers who, through an uncanny string of bad luck and circumstances, find themselves at war with the Driver. The film is very stylized and though it seems to hearken back to action films of the ‘60s and ‘70s, it has an almost oddly ‘80s feel to it due to the synthesizer-heavy soundtrack (though this choice of music may be due to the European tastes of the director). There’s a lot of slow motion and Refn takes his time telling the story, focusing primarily on developing his characters. Interestingly, because of the reserved and backstoryless nature of the protagonist, a few of his “bonding” scenes with Irene are shown through montage, which keeps us at a constant distance with him. This makes the hyper-violent actions scenes all the more shocking, because we aren’t shown that he’s capable of that level of violence. Still, making the film about the Driver instead of his actual driving is a good choice and makes the story that much more interesting when the action does present itself. Compared to other films in this genre, Drive is an interesting change of pace and a stylish alternative to the sub-par norm. It’s packed with good performances and tells a compelling and layered story. And isn’t watching Albert Brooks stab someone worth the price of admission?

Great Movie

In this day and age of disposable $100 million films, and films working ridiculously hard on creating not much more than a strong opening weekend, many filmmakers and film audiences forget that like all forms of art, cinema has its own language. What takes five paragraphs to write in a book can be shown in five seconds of a film, and the same works in reverse. Also in this day and age, films tend to get pigeon-holed into three categories; the first two being the most immediately recognizable: The Popcorn-Munchers and The Oscar-Bait. They're easy to recognize. The third are what I refer to as The Dump films. Basically, these are films that will get a wider audience than a limited-release film, but they're generally released in the weakest parts of the year with no expectation of big box-office or great critical acclaim; months like September, most of October, January and February are loaded with Dump Films, so it was no surprise to me that a film like Nicolas Winding Refn's DRIVE was released in September. It was a film with actors rather than stars, and a film that was more of a throwback to the great psuedo-independent crime thrillers of the 1980's (such as MANHUNTER and THIEF, both of those films from Michael Mann who also helped to define TV in the 80's with MIAMI VICE and CRIME STORY, and TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. from Mann's fellow Chicagoan William Friedkin) rather than the high-octane FAST AND FURIOUS flash-over-substance film that one very disgruntled audience member thought it would be and took her outrage to unintentionally satirical heights by suing DRIVE's distributor for the cost of her ticket as well as asserting the film also had Anti-Semitic views and still intends to file a class-action suit against "false advertising". I include this anecdote mostly because I think the gall it takes to do something like this is beyond astounding, but also because I believe this woman represents most of the viewing public who saw this film. Looking at the public's reviews of this film, it's very much a love-it-or-hate-it film. Many viewers assail the film for being too slow, too boring, and even in some cases, too graphic. Critical acclaim has been nearly universal for the film. It was one of the best reviewed films of 2011 alongside films like THE ARTIST and THE MUPPETS, but not as successful as either of those films, commercially or Oscar-y. The reason being that DRIVE is not a safe film. There isn't a moment that is antiseptic or commercial. It's not meant for mass consumption, and perhaps that explains its own devisive nature as a film. But DRIVE is not afraid to put some of the onus on the audience and tell us, quietly, to expand our ideas of what a great film is and how not only can a picture be worth a thousand words, but a glance or look can be worth a thousand emotions, and the harshness of a sound can be predicated on the silence that precedes it. Without going too much into plot or character, it's important to give credit where credit is due. Ryan Gosling, the too-dreamy-for-words heartthrob of films like THE NOTEBOOK and CRAZY STUPID LOVE who is also the risk-taker of HALF-NELSON, THE BELIEVER, LARS AND THE REAL GIRL and THE IDES OF MARCH, is perfect as the nameless super-anti-hero of the piece. Every look, every glance, every gesture has purpose. The greatest acting talents are the performers who can speak volumes just by saying nothing at all, and this film is loaded with those performers. I call Gosling's character a super-anti-hero because there is something superhuman about this character. He can do just about anything he wants physically, and he can survive just about any assault, except for the emotional. And that's where Carey Mulligan comes in. Mulligan is by far one of the greatest young actors out there. She first really showed us that in AN EDUCATION, and continued to show it in NEVER LET ME GO, SHAME, and this film. She is picture-perfect innocence. You want to protect her, and you understand The Driver's urge to do so. Bryan Cranston, with the introduction of BREAKING BAD a few years ago, has been a revelatory performer. Who knew the dad on MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE would be one of TV's best serious actors? Not me. And his performance as the other half of the partnership with Gosling is small yet shining. Oscar Isaac as the doomed husband of Mulligan's character plays his ex-con with an immediacy and desperation and sense of inevitability. Ron Perlman as the small-time thug with delusions of grandeur is just pitch-perfect, proving once again that Perlman is a seriously underrated actor. Christina Hendricks is sultry, sexy and that's really all her role requires, which is sad, because I love her. However, the film, from a performance standout, belongs to Albert Brooks. We're used to Brooks playing the nebbish, awkward yet smarter-than-you character. We've seen it since MODERN ROMANCE, and through LOST IN AMERICA, BROADCAST NEWS and others. For Brooks to turn that image on its head and play the lethally efficient and pragmatically violent small-time crime boss Bernie Rose is beyond inspired casting, and the performance he turns in is as strong and chilling as seeing someone like Pacino or De Niro play a similar role. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor but not for an Oscar. In fact, infuriatingly, DRIVE was only nominated for one Academy Award: Best Sound Editing, which if you watch the film closely, it REALLY deserves, but it lost to... whatever; probably TRANSFORMERS or something. The other shining star of this film is director Nicolas Winding Refn. Being somewhat unfamiliar with his work prior to this film, I tried to watch the ultra-surreal BRONSON with Tom Hardy, and couldn't get through it from a narrative standpoint but appreciated its bravura. I haven't seen his other film, VALHALLA RISING yet, but plan to watch it very soon. It's probably more his film than any of the performers: His use of every element of the language of cinema is so deftly handled, from the sound to the picture to the editing to the performers, he achieves cinematic perfection. The film works on every level it's supposed to: Crime Thriller, Fairy-Tale Romance, Emotional Drama, Anti-Heroic Action, it does it all flawlessly. Another unsung hero of this film is Cliff Martinez, who does the Tangerine Dream-esque score for the film as another nod to those classic 80's thrillers. The simple fact of DRIVE is that this film was the purest expression of the language of cinema that came out of 2011. It never missed a moment to capitalize on that language, and it speaks it fluently and perfectly. This is, hands down, the best film of 2011.

Es un estupendo producto, contiene: 1 disco Blu Ray Audio original en ingles 5.1 DTS Subtitulos en español únicamente Extras Cómo se realizó the driver I driver the driver Under THE hood story es muy recomendable para la colección, el envío como siempre excelente, gracias

Great movie

There isn't really much that hasn't already been said a thousand times about this gem of a film. It really is fantastic from beginning to end. The film is basically about a driver (Gosling) who gets mixed up in a dangerous situation. He is dragged into this situation because he seems to have fallen in love with Irene (Mulligan) and therefore wants to keep her and her child safe. This leads to Gosling having to carry out a job. However, certain complications arise and the story really begins to take off. There are many scenes in this film that are silent, yet they are so beautifully shot by Refn that they almost appear to be images taken straight from a canvas painting. Be warned that there is actually very little driving in this film, despite the fact that it is about a stunt driver. It is very much plot based and a rather simple plot at that. There are also scenes of what some may consider to be gratuitous violence. I however felt that the scenes of violence stressed the lengths people will go to when trying to gain or protect certain things. Throughout the film I was also blown away by the soundtrack. It really flows well with the film and I also own a copy of it. The Blu-Ray transfer is of great quality and the sound seemd good to me. My hearing is rather poor so I would have had issues if the sound had not been spot on. Overall I would certainly recommend this film and it would certainly be in my top five films of 2011. It has a fantastic cast and Refn directed the film perfectly. It really is a modern piece of art on screen. I'm beyond shocked that Gosling and Refn weren't even nominated for an Oscar as both deserved at least a nomination.

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Una gran película con una banda sonora a su altura.