The MoFo Top 100 of the 2010s Countdown

It's pretty stunning to realize just how well the film tells the story of each of the characters and illuminates their desires and what they do to achieve them. The character I identified with the most was Nobuyo (Sakura Ando), the mother of the family. It's a character filled with a heady mix of longing and pragmatism, and it's interesting to watch how different events bring out those opposing sides of her personality.

The fact that The Driver never truly feels invincible -- the fact that he does seem like he could be killed -- adds to the truth that he's not quite a real man. He is a silent pinup male model -- he never feels invincible. This movie reminded me of the Pam Grier 1970's Blaxploitation films that I love, like Coffy and Foxy Brown, where Pam is a badass mofo who is getting revenge and always succeeding. Pam had more life and power than Ryan Gosling does here. It bothers me that Ryan Gosling didn't. I blame the script for the most part. Ryan's silent presence doesn't come off as silent but deadly. He's sexy, but it's all surface. He is not sexy under the surface. If any ugly guy had played that character, nobody would care about Drive. Nobody. He really needed more life in him. It was frustrating just watching him act like a stump. The other men in this movie were loud and intimidating -- I can't really buy that Ryan Gosling was able to do battle with them. At least when Pam Grier went to battle, she was loud, she was sassy - she was a killer mama. Ryan Gosling is like cancer -- he might win, but he might lose. And for a movie like Drive, where he's a stunt driver and a mechanic... I don't think it works. He's hollow and he should be filled up with all kinds of complex stuff. There's nothing interesting about his mysteriousness. Even his apartment is really seen only in darkness. There's nothing to give him life. He's dead.

Nah, that's a spoiler for The Christmas Chronicles. Oh dang, I just did it again!

Drive (Nicolas Winding Refn, 2011)
(Rewatch)

I first watched this movie back in 2020 when it was chosen for me in a Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame after I'd intentionally avoided it for 9 years. I've never had much of an opinion of Ryan Gosling, the movie just looked so slick, and I often find highly stylized movies to be a big turn off.

But I was treated to a pleasant surprise. Whereas stylish movies often come across as cold, Drive does well to balance the cool elements with a little bit of warmth and humanity. Ryan Gosling does a great job of carrying this movie with his performance - ever cool and collected, with just that little smirk to betray any kind of emotion. He's a badass with a heart of gold: One moment we see the driver gently putting a young child to bed or tenderly kissing his girl and another moment we see him kicking a guy's head in. He's complicated. He exists in a gray area between good and bad. And I love that.

One thing I didn't love on the first watch though was that I felt we didn't get to see enough of his tender side, or at least not enough for me to buy his motivations for the risks he takes and the sacrifices he makes. But this time around I wasn't bothered at all by that and was fully immersed in the experience of the film.

Ultimately I don't know if it'll get my vote - I'm just too spoiled for choices here - but I do very much hope it places high on the countdown.