It’s Fall y’all. Can’t you tell by the Spring ’14 shows? I felt like doing something Mens-y. I was thinking cool, real cool, like winter cool. But in LA we get jacket weather, not really coat weather. And believe me, we’re excited by it. Oooh, I get to wear a jacket, or Ooooh, I get to wear a sweater. Fun!
So I was thinking what was a big mens-y thing I watched recently, and sadly couldn’t think of anything blog-worthy. Then I thought about “Drive,” directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. Moody, atmospheric, with the lust-provoking Ryan Gosling. Oh, Ryan Gosling… When I read you were taking ballet– BALLET y’all, not hip-hop or something more masculine, at The Edge in Hollywood, just cuz- dude, you had me at changement. He is pretty f**king cool. This generation’s sensitive Steve McQueen.
Driver (he has no name in the movie), Ryan Gosling, is a stuntman/mechanic by day, driver for nefarious activities by night.
Driver develops a crush on his neighbor, Irene, Carey Mulligan.

There’s always a money shot, or maybe jewels or whatever. But it’s usually literally a money shot. Driver and Irene’s husband, Standard were supposed to rob a pawn shop and give the gangster he owes, the goods. But it doesn’t go so smoothly. Standard is shot dead and Driver and a gangster moll, played by Christina Hendricks, make haste.

This could be a magazine editorial shot, the reflection matches the jacket and the red door is a nice frame.

When you got Jewish gangsters, there’s always a Chinese restaurant scene. Driver gives Bernie Rose, Albert Brooks (!) brilliantly cast against type, his ill gotten gains.
A scuffle and ambiguous ending give “Drive,” a genre flick body, but the style and Gosling give it some extra horsepower under the hood.
RyGos is perfection – always thought he was talented but I became OBSESSED after Drive. Re-teaming of the Gos and Refn in Only God Forgives was a bit disappointing though. Still love him in Half Nelson, Blue Valentine, Ides of March, All Good Things and even The Notebook. Place Beyond the Pines is another iconic role. Can’t wait for his directorial debut and him in Terence Malick’s yet to be titled film.
Woman, you are obsessed! 😉