The Husband and I went to a screening of “Drive” last night, followed by a Q&A with Ron Perlman.
The neon noir thriller stars Ryan Gosling as a Hollywood stunt driver by day, a hired getaway driver by night. He is stoic and seemingly emotionless — his job is to drive, no matter the outcome.
“Drive” has very little dialogue, but what’s there is important and evocative. The use of sound and light is downright inspired. All that, plus Ryan Gosling. Fuck yeah.
I’m not typically a fan of movies with a lot of action, violence and car chases. With a different director at the helm, this one easily could have been a definitive miss for me. As it is, this flick is understated and thoughtful, coming to a slow boil and then quickly spilling over.
Unlike big-budget Hollywood blockbusters with heavy-handed narration and CGI, this film doesn’t assume the viewer is dumb. Nicholas Winding Refn, the director of “Drive,” allows the audience to use their imagination, fill in the gaps and come up with their own ideas about ethics, morality and revenge.
It’s gritty, tender, terrifying and unnerving all at the same time.
Ron Perlman, who plays a Jewish crime boss, did a fantastic Q&A after the screening, giving us a little insight into how he became attached to the project and what it was like making this small-budget piece in just six weeks. He said Hugh Jackman originally intended to turn this script into a glitzy, glamorous film, where the driver lived in a penthouse and only pulled off very fancy heists. For one reason or another, that idea was scrapped and that version of Drive was never made.
Eventually Ryan Gosling stumbled upon the story tracked down some old, early drafts of the script and set out to get this thing done.
Lucky for us.