The concept of genre continues to exist in art due to the balance of maintaining the familiar genre elements and pushing the boundaries of the genre in new and unusual ways. Bronson director Nicholas Winding Refn takes the western genre, puts it in a contemporary setting, and finally gives it an atmospherish 80's vibe in his latest Drive. Story wise, this is basically a reworking of the western classic Shane, with the man with no name, Ryan Gosling (credited as 'Driver' in the credits), coming to the rescue of his next door neighbour Carey Mulligan with whom he's grown close to.
It's definitely a case of 'it's not what you do but the way that you do it' with Drive. The plot is slow, it's nothing new and you know exactly where it's going to go. But it's fantastically crafted; the editing is steady and assured, Cliff Martinez's retro 80's synth score is edgy and stylish and the production design ageless in the way that Tarantino thrillers are. The performances are strong too. Gosling, a much hyped actor I've yet to be convinced of, impresses in a largely dialogue free turn as the strong-but-silent protagonist having a likable, strong-but-silent persona. Mulligan is as captivating as ever with the gifted actress delivering the majority of her performance through glances, facial expressions and body language and comedy actor/director/producer Albert Brooks is darn scary as the mobster who's out to get them.
Winding Refn is certainly a director to watch. All three movies I've seen (Bronson, Valhalla Rising and this) are distinctly different from one another and you'd be hard pressed to link the three films together if you weren't told they'd been helmed by the same guy. What they do have in common is a willingness to experiment and to try something new. That won't please everybody (I hated Valhalla) but the results are far more electrifying when they do connect. Excellent.
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