Out of the Past: “Drive” (2011)

He has no name. If you hire him, he will give you five minutes of his talent. What is his talent, you ask? He drives and he drives well. If you rob a bank or a pawn shop, he will act as your getaway driver. Drive is a silent (albeit moments of ultra-violence) neo-noir. Screenwriter Hossein Amini and director Nicholas Winding Refen present a multi-layered film that revisits one of the persistent themes of noir—what it means to be a man.

Like the dialogue, the story is sparse and not a mystery or conspiracy. Drive is more in the vein of Detour or D.O.A. Driver (Ryan Gosling) is a stunt driver/mechanic by day and a getaway driver by night. He is the protégé of Shannon (Bryan Cranston) who fixes all his jobs-legal and otherwise. Shannon makes a deal with Bernie Rose (Albert Brooks) an ex-schlock movie producer turned low-level mob enforcer to have the Driver helm the wheel of a race car. Meanwhile, Driver falls for his neighbor, Irene (Carey Mulligan), who lives with her son in his apartment building. Irene’s husband, Standard (Oscar Isaac), returns from a stint in jail. He is hired to steal a whole load of money from a pawn shop to pay off a debt. Standard enlists the help of Driver. The robbery goes wrong and Driver finds him in the crosshair of Bernie Rose and his partner Nino (Ron Perlman).

Nicholas Winding Refen’s distinct style creates a visual template filled with black and neon. It creates the aura of walking through Los Angeles’s Korea Town with a very 80s feel. Driver wears a jacket with a golden scorpion patched on the back. The first car chase is seen entirely through the inside of the car with no exterior shots. Each of the film’s car chases are filled with tension and Refen proves his chomps for directing action sequences.

Drive uses the same themes that appear in countless film-noir. Driver feels compelled to demonstrate his manliness by using his unique skill set to protect Irene and her son. He goes to extraordinary lengths to shelter Irene, a non-traditional femme fatale. Bad luck represents another popular theme in film-noir. Driver’s involvement in Mob affairs is an unfortunate series of events. As Bernie Rose says, “No, Shannon. It’s bad luck. Two thousand heists a year in this city, he has to pick the wrong one.”