In a Nutshell. Mini reviews of movies old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. And often no sleep.

Sunday 25 September 2011

DRIVE [2011]

What if David Lynch played it straight and directed a Quentin Tarantino script in the style of a '80's Martin Scorsese flick. You'd probably get Drive.
Danish director (of Pusher fame) Nicolas Winding Refn crafts a well-paced, violent, bizarre, heist thriller following the story of an unnamed character played by Ryan Gosling. It's got a supporting cast that couldn't be better, including Albert Brooks, Ron Perlman, Bryan Cranston, Carey Mulligan and Christina Hendricks. Everything about it is reminiscent of the '80's right down to the stylish score and source songs.
It's a quiet little modern noir that is easily one of my favorites of the year.

4 ½ stunt-double masks out of 5

5 comments:

Dr Faustus said...

The title makes it sound dull as dishwater.
There must be half a dozen films called DRIVE in existence already. I think that was a mistake.

Your review makes it sound fantastic.
I want to see it.

budarc said...

I agree with Doc. By the title alone, I would have passed it by, but now I'm interested in seeing it.

cuckoo said...

...but you guys won't pass on movies called "Pootie Tang" and "Suck".

*tsk-tsk* :P

Dr Faustus said...

Guilty as charged. :p
I hoped "Suck" would be ironic, it wasn't.
The rock band in it are called 'The Winners'.
It was so bad. I almost laughed once. It wasn't so much an almost laugh as an involuntary trapped wind moment.

budarc said...

4.5 out of 5 from me, too. Solid performances all around. Getting sick of Ryan Gosling's asshole/nice guy persona, though.