Strange is the feeling after this movie. Expectation can mislead by habit. Actor names can arrange a preliminary puzzle. But when the meeting of us, with the characters and their story ends, it is the best feel when we look at the Difference. Because guess how you wish and you will be right - the promise of a boy driver behind the wheel, ties to gangsters and a hint of love story is given and respected. And the film can not boast with an original idea. However - here comes the big "BUT" - the view is different! And the "driver" is different, but for that later! For all those familiar with the Pusher trilogy and those who watched Valhalla Rising or John Torturo in Fear X, Nicholas Winding Refn's name is well known. Named the native Denmark, "The Wild Child," he is a screenwriter, director and producer and a tireless "stirrer" of festival spirits - his films are selected in Venice, Sundance, Toronto; Taipei and Valencia - awards for contribution to art; the British media described him as "a great European author". He has been involved with the adaptation of Hugh Amini in the 2005 novel by James Salis, whose premiere was a few months ago in Cannes, and Winding Refn received the Best Director Award. And I will say with a good conscience - it is wonderful!
I have not seen (at least I do not think) such a non-standard criminal act. There are the compulsory burglaries (but one is important!), The chasing at speed, the shootings ... but the special, as if calm and removed camera and the music "lining" in most of the scenes creates part of the feeling of Different. I have never been a fan of the useless use of cadence movements, but here, in the cases where the director had allowed this accent, he did not irritate me. And once we talk about justified directorial decisions - the best thing that happened to this movie is the acting team. I say quite responsibly that I can be accused of a biased attitude! After Ryan Gosling had somehow stayed on the edge of my special "watching the actor" when I came to "Blue Valentine" and remembered the impression of "The Notebook," I decided to fill my pass. And - I'm sure the real connoisseurs of acting talent will agree with me unreservedly - I'm delighted with Gosling's ability to choose roles to fill them in life in the most talented way possible. He is very good - really! Winding Refin has hit the ten with the decision to take as a driver and also the engine of this movie! Caught, immobile calm, focused on reality and smiling shyly to the charming neighbor with the cool little boy, Gosling's driver falls into a mafia-like creature built around his unique ability to drive like a demon! But before dropping him on the racing track, the dad's dad comes out of prison and it turns out that because of his platonic feelings towards the mother, the driver gets involved in a bloody (a lot!) money mess. And surprises start! I will not spoil them with explanations, I will just mention my favorite moment - a wonderful kiss in elevator, seconds later the instinct for self-preservation and protection of your favorites combined with an immense amount of anger unleashes such uncontrollable outburst that is on the brink of psychic. Cruelly captured, cruelly recreated!
It would be unjust to pass veteran master Albert Brooks (in the role of the chief mafia) who is over-professional in dealing with his assignments. The director is a fan of visual specificity - so his actors skillfully serve with forks, knives, rifles and other similar methods of casting blood. Without blinking his eye, Brooks's character made a vein-arterial-combined cut on the forearm of one of the heroes with seductive words like a toddler "That was it! It's over, calm - it will not hurt! "For some audiences, the bloody moments may turn out to be more, but I have seen them as something necessary or even imperative. The provocative directorial decisions may be daunting, but obviously affect the audience according to their intentions. There are many things that can be said about "Life at Speed" - how Kerry Mulligan was given a role simply to attend, but shared the witty replica from which we operatively redesigned the subtitle of the article; how at some moments of ghostly persecution I thought about a great story of my beloved Roger Zelazis, "The Last of the Wild"; how some of the songs shook me with the subtext that they are the musical basis of certain episodes, but ... it is enough! People - many, opinions - all, and the movies - they are for watching! The blue ghostly look that can melt away from gentleness or cut as a blade ... The actor and the director here are different from the mainstream, and their complicity makes this film Different.
