2011 has been a slow year for movies so far. It's already September and I've only been a few times, and the movies I did see were meh (X-men: First Class) or bleh (The Tree of Life). Seriously, don't get me started on The Tree of Life. Even Sean Penn, who starred in the movie, thought it sucked*. Things did get interesting in May during the Cannes Film Festival, when a movie about a stunt driver/getaway driver starring Ryan Gosling received great acclaim and a Dane named Nicolas Winding Refn won best director for it. IMDB featured a short clip from the movie, and it looked great.
Drive, the aforementioned movie, finally opened last Friday and I went to see it with much enthusiasm. And it didn't disappoint. Drive is a gourmet action film, with surprising, intense, well-crafted scenes. The cast is near perfect. Gosling is captivating as a soft-spoken yet brutal and exact criminal, similar to Jean Reno's Leon in The Professional. Albert Brooks steals scenes as a witty but equally vicious boss. And Bryan Cranston's kindly inept character is endearing.
What makes Drive stand apart is its tone/pace/atmosphere. It feels like a mashup between the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City & Steven Soderbergh's The Limey. The soundtrack's 80s-synthesized songs, the text/font during opening credits, the horrific violence and suspenseful chases, all seem right out of GTA:VC. The movie's patient pace and laconic dialogue, all set by an unrelenting protagonist, as well as thin plot, resemble that of The Limey, and make the film all the more powerful. During a time when the movie theaters are filled with three-dimensions of superfluous cacophony, Drive demonstrates that less is more. Think Haagen Dazs.
That's it for now. The fall movie season looks promising, but I probably won't be back in theaters until after the pediatric board exam in October. Wish me luck!
*http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/2011/08/22/2011-08-22_sean_penn_complains_about_final_cut_of_tree_of_life_says_it_lacked_emotion_and_i.html
