Drive

It is, by all acounts, a pretty great time to be Ryan Gosling. Having once again proven his flair for emotional drama in last year’s superb Blue Valentine, a lead role in George Clooney’s star-studded Ides of March project looms large on the horizon, and on massive-grossing romcom Crazy Stupid Love he’s evidently having the time of his life. As if all that wasn’t enough, he’s also only gone and put in one of the finest performances of his career in Drive, a tense, meditative and spectacularly violent masterpiece from the mind of director Nicolas Winding Refn. Impossibly accomplished in virtually every respect, this is quite simply as near to perfection as cinema gets.

Gosling portrays a mysterious man known only as The Driver. A part time garage worker and part time stunt driver for films, by night he also moonlights as a getaway driver for criminals. We’re introduced to The Driver’s night-time activities in a hypnotic opening sequence that plays less on action and dialogue and more on atmosphere and subtlety. It’s an appropriate introduction to a film whose opening third is unapologetically slow-paced, covering a lot of ground and dialing up the tension without ever overplaying its hand in the dramatic stakes.

We’re quickly introduced to The Driver’s neighbour Irene, played in reliably convincing fashion by Carey Mulligan. Channeling the same fragility that punctuated her portrayal of Kathy H in Never Let Me Go, her character lives with her young son Benicio (Kaden Leos), supporting him on her own as they await the return of her husband Standard (Oscar Isaac) from prison. The Driver soon develops a closeness with Irene that’s left tantalisingly under-explored before Standard is released from jail early in the film. While it would have been easy to portray Standard’s character in overly negative fashion to help nudge our affections in the direction of The Driver, it’s testament to the quality of both script and source material that instead he comes off as well-intentioned and keen to make amends for his past indiscretions. He’s understandably wary of The Driver and his intentions, but it quickly emerges that he has bigger problems on his hands. He owes mobster Cook (James Biberi) protection money from his time on the inside – more money than he could ever afford to repay.

Drive shifts dramatic gears when The Driver happens on a bloodied Standard outside their building. Having just been heavily beaten by Cook, time is against him, with the safety of both himself and his family on the line if he can’t pay up. Standard explains that he has the opportunity to keep Cook sweet by carrying out a robbery on a pawnshop. Spotting an opportunity to assist him, The Driver offers his services as a getaway driver, and when the robbery goes horribly awry, becomes more deeply drawn into the situation than he bargained for.

Settling on a slow pace, complimented by an atmospheric and masterfully synth-heavy soundtrack, Drive‘s hypnotic subdued moments serve to amplify the impact of its more violent scenes. Jarringly brutal and ingeniously stylised, this is a film that wears its ’18′ certificate like a badge of honour without ever reverting to bloodshed as a gimmick or selling point. Gosling is remarkable throughout, and is to be commended for his ability to so richly develop a character who, despite being the protagonist, has so little dialogue. Critical to this are the scenes focusing on the relationship between him and Irene’s son Benicio, which is the closest he really comes to letting his guard down.

As the film cruises effortlessly to its pitch-perfect conclusion, there’s no overblown, theatrical finale, no epic shootout and no explosions. Drive is a different beast entirely from its more predictable standard-issue action film contemporaries. Furthermore, despite boasting a host of impressive supporting performances, a brilliantly sparse script and faultless direction, this is without question Gosling’s film. He’s never backed down from challenging himself dramatically over the years, and here he emerges as the finest, most versatile actor of his generation. While it might not receive the widespread mainstream attention it so richly deserves, Drive is the cinema event of the year, and you’d be a fool to miss it.

Drive, 10.0 out of 10 based on 3 ratings