Charming Classic - “Drive”

“You give me a time and a place, I give you a five minute window. Anything happens in that five minutes and I'm yours. No matter what.” - The Driver

I really enjoy a quality heist film! I believe the best of this genre (a film with a major score or robbery as its central plot device) are the ones which rely more upon its characters, than its action set pieces (The Italian Job remake, Armoured and Takers have no place here). The heist itself, should NEVER be the most notable thing about a heist feature.

I first saw Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs at a friend's house when I was twelve and it left a lasting effect on me. True to Tarantino style, he described the film as, "a heist film gone wrong, where nobody even sees the heist". Since then, there have been a number of these films, centred around predominantly blue collar males, banding together, with hopes of a clean getaway after committing a dirty deed.

One of Robert De Niro's most well established roles in recent times, since his reinvention as a conveyor belt movie-machine, was as Nick Wells, in the 2001 film, The Score. The film was critically acclaimed but not as widely received as his more recognised heist feature, Heat. Both roles see him opposite equally as acclaimed supporting actors, (Marlon Brando and Al Pacino respectively) and both roles see De Niro playing criminals. However, one of the more interesting plot devices of De Niros' latter role, is that the central heist is undertaken by his character under duress. Namely, the character does not want to commit the crime that is asked of him, but does so out of obligation, as opposed to choice.

In line with this mould of morally acute protagonist, we have The Driver! 'Drive' is a film that should not work, but does...very well! It juxtaposes an 80's, electro-pop aesthetic, with a bleak Los Angeles modernity and the effects are visceral. The Driver is one of those classic Hollywood alpha males, who says little but resonates via his presence. A nameless, B-movie stunt driver and mechanic by day and heist getaway driver by night, the character sounds outlandish on paper, but works perfectly on screen. This is entirely due to an expert mix of casting and direction.

Drive's plot is an in-congruent combination of being easy to follow, yet extremely intricate: The Driver meets an attractive neighbour (Carey Mulligan), but this neighbour has a young son with a convicted criminal (Oscar Issac), who is recently released from prison and is in serious debt, to some very serious gangsters (Albert Brooks & Ron Perlman). Having grown affection towards his young, attractive neighbour and her son, the Driver offers the convicted criminal help, to repay his debt. He does so by offering to be the getaway, whilst the indebted criminal robs a pawnbrokers. Naturally, things go very wrong and soon, The Driver is more involved with these very serious gangsters than he'd ever anticipated being.

What makes the film work is its pacing. It masquerades as being slow, but is actually very patient, because when the action and violence hits, it does not pull its punches. Violence for violence-sake, bores me. A lot of heist films now are just loud. I recently watched Contraband starring Mark Wahlberg, which fits well into the loud category. It needed to take a lesson from Ben Affleck's far superior The Town or even Sexy Beast, which prides itself in delivering one of Sir Ben Kingsley's best ever performances. A heist flick should be loud by delivering potent performances, not deafen its audience with unnecessary 5.1 Dolby gunfire!

Ryan Gosling is now without a doubt one of my favourite young actors. On screen, I find him to be utterly authentic. He has genuine star quality, without seeming to buy into the nonsense of what it means to be a modern day 'star'. This is exemplified by the fact that he hand picked Danish film-maker, Nicolas Winding Refn, to direct this feature. Refn had previously directed Bronson, starring Tom Hardy and Valhalla Rising, both of which share in common a brutality, relative to their individual narratives. Unsurprisingly, Refn went on to win the Palme d'Or at Cannes for 'Drive' and it was well deserved. The film is a must watch.

Watch the trailer here: Drive Trailer