During the day, as a stuntman, he rolls over in a magpie car, for Technicolor thrillers. At night, he is a driver for crooks, escape guaranteed, destination unknown. In “Drive”, by Nicolas Winding Refn, the hero has no name, no past, no psychology. He’s a car ace, a gifted driver, that’s all. Next to him, Sébastien Loeb and Carlos Sainz are draggers. So: Los Angeles, darkness, chases, gangsters, minimal dialogue, ah, real cinema! What a pleasure !
A polar sketch, trajectories, bare lines, modern art
The plot is adapted from the short novel by James Sallis, an author nourished with references and a talented academic, who has made a specialty of dissecting and recycling the codes of the Black Series: as in “At close range” or in ” the Samurai”, for example, we will know nothing of the character, except his function. “I drive, that’s all I do”, he said. Total pro, therefore, who falls into an ambush because of the neighbor and her son. Very quickly, the godfathers get involved, and it smells of fir: a habitual criminal is sealed, a gangster, crumbled, a boss has his skin pierced in a pizzeria, a mechanic is executed with a razor, and – it’s the best – the Capo dei Capi (Albert Brooks, brilliantly against the grain) receives his just retribution as a bastard. In short: it bleeds.
Nicolas Winding Refn started at the cinema in 1996 with “Pusher”, without knowing anything. He just took a camera and tried. The attempt was successful: there was a “Pusher 2”, then a “3”. Actor, producer, screenwriter, this calm Dane has a gift for violence. He knows how to stage it, film it, situate it. Hence a strange mix in “Drive”: a sketch of crime fiction, trajectories, bare lines, modern art. And chaotic explosions of blood, with an impassive actor (Ryan Gosling), and images of a sinister city – Chinese restaurants, rotting garages, neon-lit convenience stores, chipped buildings. “There are 100,000 streets in this city,” said the guy. So there are so many stories. You are free to imagine them.
Friday, December 23 at 8:50 p.m. on Ciné + Frisson. American thriller by Nicolas Winding Refn (2011). With Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston. 1h36. (Multicast and On Demand).
