Character

As you may have noticed around here, I don't do movie reviews.  And this is kinda sorta because a) I don't get paid for it and b) go fuck yourself.  Furthermore, and I quote Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry character in Magnum Force, c) "A good man always has to know his limitations."

However today I make exception and step outside the boundaries of things I am good at like cooking, shooting guns, growing tomatoes, and drinking Heineken with Jagermeister shooters until I am blind, mumbling and passing out in the flower bed near the front porch.

Last night I watched the movie Drive which stars Ryan Gosling as a quiet, introspective and haunted stunt driver, mechanic and moonlighting driver for nefarious criminals and their illegal activities.  Now, before I go any further, I will state for the record that I have never seen a Ryan Gosling movie that I was aware of until I saw The Ides of March last week.  In Ides, Gosling plays a pricktastic campaign manager for a presidential candidate who gets caught up in, well, politics.  Politics of the dirty, back-stabbing, don't trust a single motherfucking soul variety.  In the end, I didn't know whether to hate the fucker or feel sorry for him, but nevertheless I felt I had seen a brilliantly crafted character due to Gosling's superb acting.

In Drive, much more of the same spectacular acting, but this time instead of a self-absorbed arrogant turd, Gosling portrays a quiet and difficult to define unnamed character who hides behind a stone front while hiding from an unknown past.  As the movie progresses and his love relationship blossoms, one can't help but feel the "hero" side of this dark knight and the viewer could almost throw aside the character's bleak shortcomings in hopes that what is seen in him then is the true man.  But all of this is viciously put to rest during a non-violent exchange with a prior client of his where the cracked and sinister alter ego of Gosling's character freezes the moment with cold unambiguous evil.  It is then, in that brief moment of clarity, where his true nature is revealed and it is unnerving.  The viewer's conflict has begun.

Oddly and unexpectedly, the movie dialogue is sparse, generalized, and much of the character development is a canvas left largely unpainted with direct and obvious plot works and relies more upon mood and the subtle psychological nature of simple human interaction.  A slight raise of the brow or glance from one character to another or an angled shot of holding hands was enough to convey volumes of story, backstory and plot.  I found this to be a nice diversion from another tough guy slinging zippy one-liners in a fast car type flick of high action, low skill and no drama.

Not to say that the movie did not excite, because it did and in some scenes very much so.  At times I was tense, nervous, utterly disgusted, and hopeful.  Emotions ran the gamut and were quick to turn as the story progressed to the movie's end where I felt myself pulled in so many directions emotionally that I found it difficult to sleep.  Infrequently, I come across something, whether it is a music album or a movie or a moment of time captured in a photograph that reaches down and gently masticates on those tender parts of the soul, heart or mind which in turn releases a wash of crisp feelings and thoughts not often considered.  I guess if this happened every day it would make artful creations such as this movie seem mundane, ordinary and vacuous.  I believe they call it being "special."

I won't give away any plot details or spoil anything for those of you that haven't seen it.  I'll just say that this movie is not for everyone and many people will find the lack of dialogue to be boring and uninteresting, but that is where I find the glory.  The movie allows you to paint your own picture instead of the movie trying to dictate the character to you tediously and thereby muddling the purity of their true nature.

And as an added bonus, although she only has 10 minutes of screen time, this movie also features the scorching and sultry Christina Hendricks, which had I known this beforehand, I would have banished the better-half to some unnecessary shoe shopping so I could enjoy the film alone.  And lubricated in clarified butter.

And here is one of the most spectacular car maneuvers I have ever seen, which happens at the end of this chase scene.  A reverse 270 degree J-turn at speed with three braking actions and burnout powerslide through the finish.  Fucking expert I tell you.