A nail biter of a thriller. Gosling and Refn knock it out of the park.

Rating: 10/10 (7 October 2011)

I recently lent my attention to Drive, an art-house thriller from director Nicolas Winding Refn. And yes, in case you were wondering, it really is that good. Drive is outstanding.
Ryan Gosling plays Driver (His real name is never revealed in the film), a man who works as a car mechanic and Hollywood stunt driver by day, but by night, moonlights as a getaway guy. He gives his clients a five minute window, and carries no weapons. "I drive" as he puts it. Across the hall from him is that of Irene (Played by Carey Mulligan), and her young son, leading him to help them out, and forcing him to suppress feelings he's developed for Irene. But Irene's husband (Played by Oscar Isaac) is released from prison, and sought after by criminals who force him to complete one last job for them, enlisting Driver's help, and sending everything afterward into a spiral.
Let me say this: There's a reason that Refn won Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival. Obviously, what he does with actors and story building is quite strong, but the atmosphere and ambient sounds do just as much storytelling as the former two do. He paints a violent, chilling portrait that places an emphasis on tension, and even the sense of paranoia. He does this, along with the lens of DP Newton Thomas Siegel, the interesting cuts and dissolves of editor Mat Newman, and particularly well staged driving sequences, to involve the audience as much as he is involved, none more attention grabbing than a very well handled scene in an elevator.
As for the story, - adapted from the James Sallis book - it's also an essential to the mood. Something in the film is always up, something always feels off. Whether it's the action of a character looking over their shoulder, or a bit of improvisation of one actor to keep another on edge and at the ready, the actions feel legitimate.
Ryan Gosling gives a no holds barred performance as Driver. His quiet expressions give off a deceptive, perplexing facade to something that's boiling with emotion. Emotion is there, it's just not incredibly obvious. The penetrating glimpse of Gosling's eyes and what his character must be thinking conveys a very fascinating side of him that you might not expect.
It's also worth nothing the rest of the cast. Carey Mulligan shines as Irene, as well as flawlessly hiding her British accent. Bryan Cranston, as Driver's mentor, manages to get a sense of warmth across. Oscar Isaac and Ron Perlman do well with their supporting roles, while Christina Hendricks achieves solidity with her small cameo. But let's not forget Albert Brooks, cast as far away from type as humanly possible as crime boss, Bernie Rose. His subtle stance manages to hide a darkly intimidating persona chilling enough to make yours truly gulp.
All this praise aside, Drive can be polarizing. Either you'll love it in a big way, or you'll probably be turned off by a lot of it. As for me, I'll be looking forward to giving the film a couple more looks.
As expected since the start, I'm giving Drive **** out of ****