Drive

With last night’s Oscar success for The Artist (which I’ve yet to see), we’ve been given evident corroboration that you don’t need a lot of dialogue (or any) to make a good picture. One of 2011’s less successful films during the award season, Drive, also backs up this statement. Ryan Gosling says little to nothing throughout most of this movie (his character doesn’t even have a name), yet that won’t detract from your enjoyment of it. The film is deeply alluring –  due largely to Ryan Gosling’s good looks, the cinematography and the soundtrack. There is a somewhat deliberate attempt to give it a 1980s feel – the music, the slick look, the helicopter shots of L.A., and the Dirty Dancing-like typeface of the credits. Overall, it is a slight film which while impressive, doesn’t have a lot to say. At worse, some of you may finish watching it feeling empty, or nihilistic. The violence when it happens is short and brutal. I was reminded particularly of recent Korean cinema, especially Old Boy. It’s a film that has been perhaps understandably overlooked by the awarding bodies, and yet finds itself in the top ten of most critics’ lists of movies from 2011. It is definitely in mine.