Drive - Review

Much like this year's unlikely Oscar juggernaut, Drive is a stylised character study set in the world of movie-making, drenched in nostaligia & paying homage to genre films of a a bygone era by aping their style, with music doing the talking for a (mostly) silent character. But, like the praise inevitably afforded to any above average biographic performance, Drive goes beyond mere mimicry.

The setup is classic B-grade: an enigmatic Hollywood stunt driver moonlights as a criminal getaway driver. He lives a safely isolated existence, controlled by a strict set of cool sounding rules, until he falls for the girl next door & gets caught up in a battle of wits with ruthless gangsters & ex-Hollywood producers; but Nicolas Winding Refn's execution is pure, candy-coated style with flashes of jarring violence & characters that somehow breathe human inside their genre universe.

Of Gosling's three starring roles this year, Drive is by far his most exciting, taking in the legendary cool of Steve McQueen and the character intensity of a young DeNiro. It's an iconic, uber cool addition to his already diverse & impressive resume, while the rest of the cast is uniformly excellent, edgy & left field: Albert Brooks stands out as a charismatic, oddly considerate, often jovial, but ultimately deadly gangster & Carey Mulligan is utterly beguiling as the sweet but damaged girl next door but even Oscar Isaac, Ron Perlman, Christina Hendricks & Bryan Cranston bring distinct vitality to their small parts.

Cannes winning director Nicolas Winding Refn goes for broke, steeping every frame with distinct  atmosphere, pace & slick 80s cool. His plot unwinds slowly, tightly & ultimately explosively, washed in slickly detailed sets & outfits, lush lighting & photography, slow fading edits & Cliff Martinez's unashamedly electro-awesome score. Winding Refn has made a film that effectively reflects its enigmatic central character: immaculately groomed, low on words, a bit strange, quietly human & occasionally ultra violent.

A carefully personalised piece of genre film making & a welcome addition to 2011's Best Of list.

Shame - Trailer

Drive - first official trailer

Official Trailer! Yes! It is Red Band, so apply appropriate caution if you are underage / sensitive...

& Carey Mulligan Clip:

Oscar Casualties - Best Actress

These ladies coulda been contenders:

Lesley Manville - Another Year

In a very crowded year for Best Actress, Another Year’s National Board of Review winner, Lesley Manville was the victim either of being too unknown and British, or of category confusion. Her producers decided to push her for Best Actress, which would have been great if it had worked out (see Nicole Kidman in The Hours / Kate Winslett in The Reader), but unfortunately left her in the same place where Laura Linney's divorcing, literary Brooklyn-ite in The Squid and the Whale went to miss out on the Oscar race. If they had pushed her for as a Supporting Actress right from the outset (see Natalie Portman / Clive Owen in Closer), she would likely have been a frontrunner, and could / should have won the Oscar that went to Melissa Leo for lack of a stronger contender. 

Noomi Rapace - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 

(Who Played with Fire & Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest)

Noomi Rapace was 2010's breakthrough sensation as massively abused, bisexual punk hacker Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Two rushed (and inferior) sequels upped her profile, but probably not her credibility. She is excellent in all three films, though; her return from the ‘dead’ in The Girl Who Played with Fire is arguably the most startlingly powerful moment, while her eventual trial in The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest is rousing stuff, but I loved the guarded, unexpected emotions of her reluctant romantic interlude with Mikael Blomkvist in the first installment the most. 

Julianne Moore - The Kids Are All Right

Anette Bening got all the praise and awards for The Kids Are All Right, but endless movie-goers hailed the greatness of Julianne Moore as loopy, free-spirited mother Jules. Fans were quick to declare Moore’s performance one of her best (which is saying a lot) & raged all season long that she was so uniformly ignored, despite being as vital as Bening to the film's success. There were some last minute hopes that she would be a surprise 5^th nominee, but no luck.

Anne Hathaway - Love & Other Drugs

Detroit Film Critics name their best

Originally posted: 11 Dec 2011

Nominations from the Detroit Film Critics Society.

Some interesting nominations. Nice to see Winter's Bone in the Best Film Top 5, and awesome to see Edgar Wright nominated for Best Director - inspired, even if it is as a 6th wheel add-on.

Also nice to see some variation in the Best Actress race, with Michelle Williams & Carey Mulligan replacing the usual Anette Bening & Anne Hathaway.

Jeff Bridges also pops up again & is starting to feel like a sure-thing. It's great to see Ryan Gosling also nominated for Blue Valentine. My biggest Oscar wish is that Gosling & Williams are not overlooked. I think it has been getting so much press due to the NC-17 Rating debacle that, hopefully, it will stay on everyone's radar.

On the Supporting Actor front, it's nice to see John Hawke's keep a steady pace & Sam Rockwell landing in the race. As for the ladies, it seems we have a 'locked' 4 in Melissa Leo, Amy Adams, Helena Bonham Carter & Jacki Weaver - with the critics at any rate. Pretty cool to see Greta Gerwig pop up in the 5th slot, although it is not likely that we see her again. A very deserving performance, though.

Full list of nominees, courtesy of the lovely people at AwardsDaily.

Best Film

127 Hours

Inception

The King’s Speech

The Social Network

Winter’s Bone

Best Director

Danny Boyle – 127 Hours

David Fincher – The Social Network

Debra Granik – Winter’s Bone

Tom Hooper – The King’s Speech

Christopher Nolan – Inception

Edgar Wright – Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Best Actor

Jeff Bridges – True Grit

Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network

Colin Firth – The King’s Speech

James Franco – 127 Hours

Ryan Gosling – Blue Valentine

Best Actress

Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole

Jennifer Lawrence – Winter’s Bone

Carey Mulligan – Never Let Me Go

Natalie Portman – Black Swan

Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale – The Fighter

Andrew Garfield – The Social Network

John Hawkes – Winter’s Bone

Sam Rockwell – Conviction

Mark Ruffalo – The Kids Are All Right

Geoffrey Rush – The King’s Speech

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams – The Fighter

Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech

Greta Gerwig – Greenberg

Melissa Leo – The Fighter

Jacki Weaver – Animal Kingdom

Best Ensemble

The Fighter

The Kids Are All Right

The King’s Speech

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Winter’s Bone

Breakthrough Performance

Andrew Garfield – The Social Network/Never Let Me Go

Greta Gerwig – Greenberg

Jennifer Lawrence – Winter’s Bone

Chloe Moretz – Kick Ass/Let Me In

Mia Wasikowska – The Kids Are All Right