Drive

I recently watched the 2011 Nicholas Winding Refn directed  film 'Drive' again after originally seeing it when it was first released, the crime drama is an outstanding watch due its cinematography and style, the slow moving nature of the story crossed with the pastel colour visuals create a throwback feel to the film and it has drawn many comparisons to 80s pulp classics. There is an eerie mystery behind the main character played by Ryan Gosling, who is never actually called by name and keeps a calm cool with a tooth pick in his mouth almost for the entire duration, the themes of the film; cars, love interest and crime are typical of the genre and the way in which these topics intertwine while the visuals hold a calm stillness gives a certain surreal feel. As the sometimes shocking events of the movie unfold the backdrop of smooth 80s inspired soundtrack adds to the intensity, even during some of the longer drawn out uneventful sequences there is a tension and excitement as some of the acts of violence are unexpected and vividly brutal in contrast with the soft nature of the exchanges between the driver and his neighbor who he develops feelings.