Drive Movie Analysis

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Drive, directed by Nicolas Winding Renf, is about star Ryan Gosling (referred to as Driver) who plays the part of mechanic, stuntman, and getaway driver who is living in Los Angeles, California. According to Bochenski, “Driver is a man without a past – an archetype (a knight on a white Dodge Charger) who exists only in this time and this place” (par. 7). This film is filled with intense action but the films main characters often lacks dialogue. In certain scenes he has so little to say that he responds to conversation with simple head nods; despite this it is the Drivers actions that speak the loudest. “From quiet romance to ecstatic violence” (par. 1 ) the pace of the movie changes gears quickly and leaves the audience clinging to the edge …show more content…
In the beginning scene, Bochenski describes it as “Shot almost exclusively from the interior of the vehicle (pulse-like soundtrack; engine rattle and clatter), it establishes Driver as a man for whom action is character” (par. 3). The director use this to his advantage in the first few minutes of the film as the audience is drawn in by other sounds. It puts the viewer inside the mind of Driver as we hear the ticking of his watch which is noticeably louder than the actual alarm going off in the building as he waits for the armed robbers to return, the sound of him shifting gears is particularly louder than usual and the loud revving of the engine when they are spotted by the …show more content…
The sounds used in this sequence are essential because it allows us to feel the transformation of emotions that are taking place. where score and sound design add meaning to the film is the traumatic, yet poetic elevator scene. Bochenski describes this scene as “a stunning collision of eroticism and brutality that only a master maniac like Refn could pull off” (par.13). The first time sound becomes key in the scene is when the man in the tan suit enters the elevator and a non-diegetic menacing sound can be heard by the audience. The man says “sorry, wrong floor” and enters the elevator. Mystery and tension are established as the elevator begins to descend; this scene is shot mostly in slow motion which adds more to the building tension. A same menacing sound is heard when Driver notices the man in the elevator is concealing a