Drive (Refn)

8/24/20

I hadn't seen this in years. Last time I recall it felt rapturous: one can easily idolize Gosling's rebranding of cool; the world is simplified, stylized, and idealized; the romance is enviable; the whole thing is sweet escapism. This time I was drier to the fantasy (discomfort when they just stare at each other and smile), but cherished the simplicity. What I recognized as cliche this time didn't bother me -- the movie is a sort of vignette, or parable. The painting is coarse, but the picture is inspired. There's a purity to this film requiring such broad strokes, including lack of character development or even dimension. This is in fact what I requested from films like Under the Skin in earlier posts: awesome style doesn't need rich characters; the latter can dim and displace the former. Drive is a thesis on form, and everything else is better left parabolic.