Drive - Section 3 G321

Drive

Drive is a crime thriller released on the 16^th of October 2011 in the US. The director of the movie is Nicolas Winding Refn, 43 year-old born in Copenhagen, known for ‘Bronson’ and ‘Only god forgives’. The budget for Drive was estimated around $15,000,000, filmed around California. The 100 minute long movie gained a gross return of $35,054,909 by the 3^rd of February 2012 and it managed to be nominated for an Oscar (For sound editing) and it won Best Director at Cannes Film Festival in 2011.

I believe that the target audience for Drive was mainly aimed at those who enjoy action movies, and also those who are aged at over the age of 18 due to the certificate on the movie being that age. Therefore I would confidently say that the target audience for this movie is from 18-25. Also due to containing gory scenes, which are often more, appealing to younger ages. Also on the DVD case they have advertised that it won best director at the well-known Cannes Film Festival therefore they feel that they will be successful in targeting film lovers and critics.

A quote taken from ‘CrispyCrunchy’ on IMDb as a user review:

“A truly beautiful and hypnotic film.

I've seen the last few Nicholas Winding Refn films, and while I liked both Bronson and Valhalla Rising a lot, they were both "difficult" films, in that both structure, pacing and tone were bound to alienate some people, and of course they were both marketed as somewhat mainstream films while being anything but.

Part of the irony of Refn's situation is that he makes films about "Primal" man- and these protagonists invariably commit acts of great violence on those around them. This violence puts his films into the genre categories that Hollywood recognises and promotes to the public, resulting in trailers for Refn movies that grossly misrepresent the sophistication of the actual film. In that way, Valhalla's intense, slow-burning and almost dialogue-free mythic exploration of our savage past can be repackaged as a "Vlad the Viking goes to the New World" action movie.

Yet both Valhalla and Bronson were highly "directed" films, revealing a very strong hand in control of the material. And so, I was extremely curious to see what Refn would do with the material, and whether he would be able to rein in his sometimes obtrusive style in order to allow the story more room to breathe... I shouldn't have worried. I think the director has managed to balance a genuine artistry with the demands of the genre in a way that is rarely, if ever, achieved. I absolutely loved it. Just stay the hell away from the trailer, as it reveals far too much, and again, misrepresents the film's true "feel".

Driver has a tone of wry amusement at everything around it, much like Gosling's half-smirk, pivoted on the toothpick perpetually in the corner of his mouth. Schmucky gangsters and mob clichés provide some laughs, but the heart of the film is Gosling's portrayal of the unnamed? main character and his sweet, underplayed romance with Mulligan and her young son.

While an ethereal synthesizer-pop soundtrack provides an at-times tender,at-times mythic undercurrent, the car chases and action scenes, when they come, are tense, brutal and brief- far more Eastern Promises than The Transporter. Mulligan plays her character all trembly, wet-eyed, sweet and innocent and is swept away by Gosling's quiet strength and self-assured charm, while Gosling speaks little and remains a mystery to the end, though we never doubt his fundamentally good nature.

The seasoned supporting cast are all very fun, except maybe for Kendricks who is relegated to a fairly irrelevant part. Of course, this is really Gosling's film, and he inhabits the character completely, turning what could be a straightforward Hollyood tough-guy role into a complex and contradictory character, self-confident and physical, yet clearly lonely and possessed with a certain peculiarity and stillness, almost reminiscent of De Niro's Travis Bickle.

Visually the film is lush and gorgeous. Like Michael Mann, Refn and his cinematographer are able to instill LA with a sense of life and character that most directors just fail to do. Unlike Mann however, Refn opts for warm orange tones over Mann's hard blues, and in one particularly beautiful sequence the familiar LA cliché of driving down the dry LA river is taken to an unexpectedly joyful conclusion.

Despite its absolute craftsmanship, Driver is probably not for everybody, which makes me sad. People who prefer bald-headed muscle men slugging and wise-cracking their way into their wallets should of course stay away, as this bears very little resemblance to the standard Hollywood fare associated with the genre, and they might well be disappointed.

But for me, Driver was sweet, surreal, mythic, tense, fun, hilarious, revolting, and surprising. See it because it will make you a better person.

And so, 10 out of 10, because it deserves it.” 

“How is sound used to create suspense and other effects in this scene?”

The scene opens with three characters in a closing elevator. The camera angle used depicts the claustrophobic space where it is filmed and highlights this. The first sound the audience hears is the closing of the elevator doors, and then there is a moment of silence. The silence is an often-used thriller technique within sound editing, as is creates suspense well and the audience doesn’t know what to expect therefore.

The silence remains, except for a deep bass tremor that can be heard whilst in elevators. The camera moves to a shot-reverse-shot to show both the protagonist and other character assessing one another. This begins to create tension effectively with the bleak sound of the elevator. As the camera moves to the other character, the camera pivots on it’s axis on a close up, moving downwards from a close up of his portrait moving downward to then reveal a gun concealed within his blazer pocket. This camera angle is used because it is a point of view shot, showing you objects of importance and putting you in the characters view point and position.

The effective use of dim lighting, slow motion and silence works very well as Gosling (protagonist) protects the female lead behind him. The light moves away from either characters and moves only onto the woman, that can be inferred that she is the only innocent one (using semiotics) in the elevator. The silence is then cut by a fade in of slow paced orchestral music, this gives a soft touch to the moment and the slow motion is a response to the slow tempo music, enjoying every millisecond of this innocence.

As he moves in to kiss her, the music is at it’s peak volume and the music makes the scene very sweet and innocent, making it to the audience feel in the characters boots, making that moment precious and special. The music also has connotations of choir singing and religious scenes therefore this could mean that the kiss they just went through was holy. Alike a kiss you would have on a wedding day in a church or holy place.

As soon as they both leave the kiss the light is above their head, this could be inferring again the innocence and possibly more religious semiotics with a halo above their heads, shining the light down on them, making them angles.

The music fades out very sharply and fast, leading to a split second of silence. In this moment we see gosling turn toward the other character in anticipation of events to come. The sound is very intensified in these scenes and this works well at involving the audience into the scene, building the suspense through the deep bass levels.

Whilst fighting and scuffling between the two characters there is little else going on, the camera is merely a mid shot, therefore in this scene they are attempting to compensate for the lack of space and use it to their advantage with very intense levels of sound effects, creating a feeling of claustrophobia which is an effective suspense technique. As Gosling is beating the character to death the character turns to a close up of the woman's portrait, revealing her expressionless reaction.

In the final moments of this scene Gosling is seen from a low angle shot, giving him power and strength as he is kicking the characters head in. The sound of Goslings’ heavy panting to extremely intensified too to create effect and used in intimidation. As the characters body is being beaten we, the audience, can hear the cringe like sound of bones crunching and grinding. 

The silence at the end is very powerful in that they both come to terms with who he is and the silence “says more than words can” (in a very soppy way.)