Drive

Denmark’s Nicolas Winding Refn brought his electrifying cinematic vision to Hollywood with this ‘80s-influenced noir thriller, reminiscent of such Reagan-era crime dramas as To Live and Die in L.A. and Thief, right down to its pulsating, Tangerine Dream-esque synth score and neon-pink credits, but with an icy cool style all its own. Ryan Gosling stars as Driver, a Los Angeles wheelman for hire, stunt driving for movie productions by day and steering getaway vehicles for armed heists by night. Though a loner by nature, Driver can’t help falling in love with his beautiful neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan), a vulnerable young mother dragged into a dangerous underworld by the return of her ex-convict husband Standard (Oscar Isaac). While Driver handles the wheel during a dangerous heist with hopes of using the money to help Irene and her young son, Shannon makes a deadly deal with a pair of extremely bad gangsters (Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman) as a way out of her predicament. But when these two plans collide in an unexpected way, all hell breaks loose. Fast, jazzy and punctuated with bursts of brutal violence that will leave your head spinning, Drive is unique thriller that manages to balance tender romance with hard action in ways rarely seen in American cinema. (Dir. by Nicolas Winding Refn, 2011, USA, 100 mins., Rated R)