Drive: One of the best films of 2011

Trailer on youtube for Drive: www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBiOF3y1W0Y&feature=related

A film perfectly cast, and wonderfully directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive is one of the best films of 2011 (don't let the lack of an Oscar nomination for Best Picture fool you...though it was nominated for best sound editing).

Here's why:

Ryan Gosling plays a character with no-name, he is only known as "Driver", but delivers an intense and sensitive performance that drives the film (no pun intended). At the start of the story we know little about him, other than that he is a getaway driver for criminals (masterfully shown in a few short scenes, the true talent of Gosling's character as a getaway driver), and that he does stunt driving work for films. His motivation for being a getaway driver is unknown, perhaps it is just the money, perhaps it is something more, but that's not really the point. The point is that we, the audience, don't know. Like his true name, his motivations are hidden from us.

However, once he meets his new neighbor Irene (Carrie Mulligan) and her young son, more of "Driver" is revealed to the audience. He befriends Irene and her son, and through short, direct conversations with his neighbor (like any good film, no words are wasted--behind every word, sentence and exchange, there is a reason), the audience learns that there is more to "Driver" than meets the eye. We get the sense that perhaps he has longed for the kind of connection he finds with Irene. Complications arise when Irene's husband returns from prison, though this movie is not about a love-triangle, it becomes about Gosling's character's need to protect Irene and her son.

I will not say too much about the plot, only to say that "Driver" does everything he can to protect Irene and her son from the problems that her husband's return causes, and from the criminals that seek to cause them. It is violent at times, but the violence is not excessive, and seems to have a place in the film. A purpose. Which is a theme throughout the film, there is nothing in the film that doesn't need to be there. There are no random, or what I would call "lazy" shots, but each scene is full of purposeful camera movements, and each scene is essential to the film. This causes the story to propels itself at a perfect speed towards the ending, like a beautiful piece of classical music with beats in exactly the right places that move the composition forward, and which ends precisely when it needs to, Drive does just that.

Drive is available to rent on 1/31/2012.

Full cast and crew:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780504/