review by Mike Harding Crew
Drive 2011
Watched Nov 11, 2011
Mike Harding’s review:
A beautifully crafted film, with consideration in every shot and a kick-ass soundtrack. Winding Refn certainly earned his Best Director award at Cannes this year, helped greatly by the outstanding performances of Gosling and Mulligan. I'll definitely need to see this again, and while I'm not much a fan of ultra-violence I couldn't imagine it working any other way in this film.
I don't think that it's really ultra-violence. It's effective use of violence.
That elevator scene was ultra-violence.
I didn't even feel like the ultra-violence was real enough in a way; too quick, not really enough compared to the rest of the film (and the quietness of it). The ultra-violence in Mad Men is inserted in a much better way, and that's a similarly quiet but intense story.
The violence is not dwelt on or glamourised, it serves as a reminder that there is something very dark just beneath the surface of this apparently quiet, private person.
By keeping his past in dark, effect of violence is multiplied - neat trick.
That elevator scene was ultra-violence indeed.