Went and saw Drive yesterday

With the Wife.  It is still playing in the City, at the last stop Art House Cinema, the Opera on Van Ness.

And it is going to take a few days for me to get my head wrapped around this thing.  And I am still ambivalent about the ending.

Do you think Marcus Mumford is jealous?

I had warned Renee that the film is extremely, gruesomely violent.  It is.  Renee did not like the violence, at all, and I blanched a fair bit, too.  Still, we talked about the film for a very long time after we saw it.  And Renee obviously liked the film, in spite of the blood, knives, and guns.  I liked it, too.  There are a lot of things to like:  The composed set-ups early in the film, many w/ no dialogue; the elliptical eschewing of period; the phenomenal 80s synth-band soundtrack; the apartment and apartment hallway sets; the opening get-away sequence; Ryan Gosling's silent noble samurai performance; Bryan Cranston; Carey Mulligan; the driving scenes, of course; the "picnic" scene; the whole picture dripping with style; the desperate nerve-wracking intensity, in which I was literally glued to my seat, not daring to move; the silk jacket; the use of slow motion, so often abused and mishandled in other films; Blanche; the lengthy kiss in the elevator; and I could still prob go on.

This film is so heavy on style, that I would not be surprised that if in a few years (or few months) the film looks completely weird and dated.  I could even see myself making a complete about face sometime in the future, hating this film.  It is up in the air, and I will be thinking about Drive a lot the next few days.

Kisses,
Ardent