Drive

Author: James Sallis

Genre: Neo Noir

Rating: A-

"Much later, as he sat with his back against an inside wall of a Motel 6 just north of Phoenix, watching the pool of blood lap toward him, Driver would wonder whether he had made a terrible mistake."

It's kind of a rule of book-to-movie adaptations that the book is always better than the movie.  Like every rule, there are always the exceptions to it, and James Sallis' Drive, which inspired the movie of the same name, is one of those exceptions.  That's not to say that this book isn't good, great even, just that I think the movie was better.

Drive is about a man, Driver, who works as a stunt driver during the day and a get-away car driver during the night.  Life is good, albeit a bit unstable, until he takes a job that goes horribly wrong.  During it Driver is double crossed, and following it he decides to go after those who did the double crossing and are out to kill him.  The story is told in an anachronistic fashion, going back and forth between Driver's actions following the double crossing and his life leading up to it, and follows not only Driver but to a lesser extent the lives of those around him.

In a lot of ways, the plot of Drive the book is a lot better than the plot of Drive the movie.  It isn't a love story, it isn't an action story, it's just a nitty gritty, dark book.  It isn't trying to appeal to this vast audience, which is in my opinion what makes it a real gem.  It's written not for the money that it can make or the attention that it can draw, but for the pure pleasure of writing. We get the background of the characters - Driver, Nico, Benie Rose.  We get to understand why things happen the way they happen.

What doesn't work as well is the anachronistic ordering of the book, and the way that it appears to be a bit unsure of the tense that it wants to be written in.  There were a few points when I wasn't sure if the book was being written in present or past tense or both, in a way that was really rather aggravating.  The way that it switched around with the narration and point of view was also aggravating - a lot of the time it wasn't bad, but there were times when it took me a bit to figure out just whose part of the story was being told.  I don't mind having to think when I'm reading - I enjoy it really - but I do dislike being deliberately confused by the author.  It's one thing when it's a misleading plot, it's another thing when it's more the case of sloppy writing and a lack of personal pronouns.  When your characters are primarily male then "he" doesn't cut it as an identifier.

I did really like the way this book ended, however, and the plot differences between it and and the movie.  The movie really tries to be a love story and sets up a lot of Driver's actions as the result of this.  In the book, however, the relationship between him and the girl is far from being the focus, which I liked.  Love stories are great, but not everything is a love story, which Sallis seems to get.

Drive (2011)

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman, Oscar Isaac, Albert Brooks

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller, Neo Noir
Rating: A+

This is definitely one of my favourite movies of all time.  There are a few key elements of it that make it so epic-ly awesome: it's awesomely and subtly acted, it's unpredictable, and it blows your mind.  The first time that I saw it was in theatres and there were a few key points during which I actually jumped out of my seat (fortunately, I was at Station Square and there wasn't really anyone else there).

Drive follows an unnamed man, the Driver (Gosling) through a life changing journey.  At the start of the film he's a man with... questionable morals; by day he works as a stuntman and a mechanic, and by night he works as a getaway driver.  When he's working as a getaway driver the Driver has a set of rules; he only works anonymously, he never works for the same people twice, and he only allows them five minutes to get their business done.  It is implied, although not confirmed, that the Driver has not been caught at his night job.  The Driver's daytime boss and night time connection is Shannon (Cranston), a man with a mixed past and many ties to the mob.  Shannon is hoping to get mobster Bernie Ross (Brooks) to buy a stock car for the Driver to race; Bernie's partner Nino (Perlman), thinks the idea is ridiculous and doesn't trust Shannon - whose pelvis he once had broken because of Shannon's habit to overcharge.  While the Driver's business life is becoming a bit more shady his personal life is becoming a bit more involved; one day he meets his neighbour Irene (Mulligan) and her son Benicio (Kaden Leos), and becomes close to the two.  Despite having clear romantic feelings for Irene things are complicated when her husband Standard (Isaac) is released from jail, and complicated further when it becomes clear that Standard owes money and needs the Driver's help - help that, if it isn't procured threatens Irene and Benicio.

Ryan Gosling's performance in this is amazing.  The thing that really makes it a powerful performance is the fact that Driver is a largely silent man; there are entire scenes that go by with him barely saying a word.  He really has to show the audience what he's thinking and feeling, rather than simply tell them, and he's extremely successful in doing so.  Driver has questionable morals, but it's very clear to see just what he values and what he takes pride in.  His feelings for Irene are never really spoken but from the beginning it's clear how he feels, and the chemistry between the two is very convincing.  The other actors all seem to kind of fall in around Gosling's performance; none of them are over the top, none of them fail to be convincing.  The scenes between Cranston and Gosling especially are intriguing as they have rather clashing personalities; Cranston's Shannon being a very talkative, morally deviant, and rather weak willed man, while the Driver is strong and silent, even if his actions aren't always right.  That's the other thing that I like about this film - there are so many shades of grey here.  The villains are clearly established, but even some of them are somewhat likeable. The good guys are also clearly established, but they're not always that likeable either, and they operate on the same shades of grey that the villains operate under.  Asides from Benicio, who as a child is an innocent, the purest character in this film is Irene - who has feelings for the Driver, despite being married, and really is married to a convict, giving one just reason to question her own morals.  I could say more, but I fear doing so and spoiling the movie.  Instead, I'll leave this off with a bit of a warning: this is a very gritty and dark movie; it's smarter than the average crime, car chase type film, but it's also a lot more gruesome and violent.