This post is all about the 2011 Nicolas Winding Refn film 'Drive.' More specifically the aspect of 'love' in the film. I was talking to my girlfriend the other day about the best love films (or arcs) of all time; I named 'Forrest Gump,' 'Casablanca,' 'Inception,' and 'Schindler's List.' In these cases I am speaking only of my own opinion and knowledge because I am sure I missed some of the greatest stories of all time but for me these are great films for studying how love can change someone's life. After a little bit more thinking my wonderful girlfriend mentioned 'Drive' and I quickly said, "No, it's not the same. I am talking about arc and love being a main theme of the film." The night ended but I kept thinking about the aspect of Love in 'Drive.' The more I thought about it the more I thought about how purely loving someone and the actions one takes because they love are different and I think that applies greatly for 'Drive.'

Fair Warning: If you have not seen this film, some if not all of this may not make sense to you and there may be spoilers, so read at your own risk.

Roger Ebert wrote this about Ryan Gosling's character Driver, "Whatever happened to him drove any personality deep beneath the surface. He is an existential hero, I suppose, defined entirely by his behavior." This is the prime reason 'Drive' is put under the category of "Loving someone and the actions taken because of that love" and not "The pure loving of another person." It is because Driver keeps his emotions so well hidden until we see him act. Never once in the film do we hear him say, "I love Irene to death and I will kill anyone who stands in my way of helping her." No Driver is a man of very few words and of strong, meaningful action; when he does something it has purpose and he does it wholeheartedly. And the fact that he does anything for Irene shows a strange but strong connection between them because the audience should already be able to tell that Drive connects to no one quickly. In the film Shannon tells Irene that Driver has been around for about five or six years and we can see that he has connected with no one. His apartment is empty, he eats pie by himself, and he drives around town at night just listening to music. That is where we see his one and only connection with anything other than himself; driving. Even on his dates with Irene he takes her driving at night, though he also takes her some other places but that is mainly a sidebar in this discussion. Their connections builds rather quickly as Irene's husband, Standard, comes home from prison in a week and the audience knows that chemistry has already been settled between Driver and Irene; Driver even becomes rather friendly with Irene's son Benicio. From there Driver agrees to help Standard with some money/crime trouble solely to keep Irene and Benicio safe. (I must say I love the scene where Standard is lying beaten on the ground and Driver simply retrieves Benicio and leaves Standard where he was.) That scene only goes to show that Driver's main concern is for Irene and her little boy.

The movie continues and we are shown a beautiful scene where Driver finally kisses Irene and then immediately protects her while losing control on a hitman's face in the corner of an elevator. (Again I must say I love this scene. Ryan Gosling's acting at this point was absolutely phenomenal.) Unfortunately this was kind of a mistake for Driver. Irene pushes away because she does not want to be involved Driver anymore now that Standard has died and Driver has fallen into the same problem that Standard had. However this does not stop Driver from finishing what he started. He knows Irene is in trouble and so do we via the scene where Driver yells at Shannon saying, "YOU TOLD THEM ABOUT IRENE!?" (Another great performance and scene. Thank you Ryan Gosling.) Driver knows Irene won't run away with him or take the money so he uses the money as leverage to aim as high as he can on the crime ladder responsible for killing Standard and coming after Driver's woman. A beautifully shot scene at the end shows us Driver putting his life on the line, once again, to ultimately protect Irene. If you think about this film you will see that the only benefit of Driver's actions was the betterment of Irene's life, never anything for himself. We see this epitomized at the very end once Driver has killed Bernie.

Driver sits in his car silently after the knife fight and music slowly fades in as the camera focuses on Driver's face. Some audience members probably thought he was dead the first time they saw this, I know I did for a minute but thankfully Ryan Gosling finally blinks after what felt like an eternity. What was he doing all that time you ask? Was he thinking about his next move? How his life would fair without Irene? Whether or not he should chase after her? We don't know. What we do know is that he left the money by Bernie's corpse, solidifying that Driver's motivation was never himself but Irene. And at the end of the film the audience never sees Driver attain the one thing he fought so adamantly for: Irene. Though seemingly tragic one may see the ending as open to speculation. Maybe he did find Irene and they did live happily ever after; who knows for sure. One thing I know for sure is that the aspect of love shown in the film was masterfully crafted in development, pre-production, principle photography, and post-production. Ryan Gosling's character is worth studying because there is so much beneath the surface that influences his decisions and lifestyle in the film and that, in my opinion, is what makes a great film. We don't need to see every piece of information. An audience should be smart enough to see a movie and realize that characters are breathing, living things. They are fueled by emotion and logic just as we are. They make decisions for reasons and a good film shouldn't have to explain every reason for us.

At the end of the day there are parallels to each of the films I mentioned before and 'Drive.' Driver knows what true is and means just as Forrest Gump did. Driver knows how to sacrifice for a loved one just as Rick did in 'Casablanca.' Driver has unseen layers that influence his decisions the same as Cobb and at the end of the day we are open to speculate the ending of the film just as 'Inception' led us to do. And Driver exemplified unconditional love just as Oscar Schindler so masterfully did in 'Schindler's List.' Sadly I cannot say that 'Drive' is better than any of the aforementioned films but it is definitely a master piece that deserves more than one viewing.

P.S. If anyone has any questions as to why 'Inception' was on the list I will be happy to give my opinion on why I included it. Thank you for reading.