Excellent

Rating: 10/10 (25 September 2011)

I absolutely despised Refn's previous film, Valhalla Rising, which was a ridiculous stylistic exercise that exhibited a great eye for photography but nothing else. Well, Drive is also mostly a stylistic exercise with great photography, but this one's a keeper. Ryan Gosling stars as a stunt driver/mechanic/aspiring racecar driver who moonlights as an uber-professional getaway driver for criminals. After getting emotionally involved with his neighbor (the drop-dead gorgeous Carey Mulligan) and her son, Gosling agrees to help her ex-con husband (Oscar Isaac) pull off a heist. It goes wrong, and Gosling becomes a mob target. So, yeah, the story's nothing new or special. And the performances are nothing to write home about, either. It's all in the direction, the cinematography, the sound and the editing. And, man, it's just a beautifully made film. It feels kind of out of place in 2011, more resembling a 1970s auteurist project. It's pure cinema, not unlike the other great English language film of 2011 (so far), The Tree of Life. Not quite as profound as that one, but, still, quite great. Also starring Albert Brooks, Bryan Cranston, Ron Perlman and Christina Hendricks.