Wednesday, July 5, 2017

F This Movie! 394 - Drive

Patrick and Mark Ahn are real human beings and real heroes.



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Also discussed this episode: The Searchers (1956), Klute (1971), The Enforcer (1995), Baby Driver (2016), You'll Never Get Rich (1941), The Age of Shadows (2017)

18 comments:

  1. I think that Refn's 100 interpretations of his own work in a way are all actually true. As controlled a film maker as he is I don't think he's ever really saying anything concrete thematically, which is why that elevator scene can be interpreted in several different ways. It's more like he's exploring themes in a big stew and seeing what happens.

    Also, the next time Riske's on, what are the odds of Burt Reynolds meeting Michael Rapaport?

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  2. I have also never seen Klute. I know of it, but I've never seen it. :(

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  3. I love when Mark Ahn's on! :) Great podcast! I think I had all the same reactions and questions about Drive when I first saw it, but doubted them bc I know I'm not great with movie and pop culture references. I enjoyed it but felt like it was a little over my head and maybe I wasn't the audience for it? The elevator scene was hot but it also totally made me roll my eyes. Like UGH, of course, you have to go and do that shit, Ryan Gosling. I should've known after Half Nelson when you were a super hot, funny, sensitive teacher of little kids in the inner city..and then you CRUSHED my heart, never to trust you again. Seeing him play something so completely different for once in The Nice Guys was a relief. I'm liking him a lot more as an actor recently, I feel like it's not always THE SAME emotional roller coaster (of lust and pain haha) with him every time.

    Planning on watching Neon Demon sometime this week.

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    1. Also, Hey Girl memes were the best. My fav was "HEY GIRL, I was gonna wind all your bobbins for you but I got sidetracked thinking about making babies with you."...I guess they're not as funny as I used to find them, but anyway, they were a great phenomenon. Hey Girl, I know they don't make glitter converses anymore, so I glittered some for you.
      He just...GETS me.

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    2. Hi Meredith!

      Erika definitely understands how Gosling gets you. And her. And you.

      Have fun with Neon Demon.

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    3. I really like Neon Demon even though, as Patrick said, the plot is thin and shallow (I see what you did there?).

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  4. I totally took the kiss as a goodbye to innocence at least. He's like, well I'd better have one sweet moment with this girl before I have to perform a one-man Stomp routine.

    I also took the mask as him consciously putting on his 'hero' costume. Now he's going to be proactive for a cause other than just himself. But I had just come off of a class on Valhalla Rising so was looking for deeper meaning in everything. It could justvhave been for the weird visual of it.

    Love the 'cast again guys!

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    1. The film definitely comes sideways at a type of Super hero narrative and that mask/Jacket combo operates much the same way as the Raincoat in Unbreakable.

      For a while I had a hunch that Drive would play great with Nightcrawler which in a silar way feels like the creation of a supervillain. Add in the LA-at-night settings in both and it seemed like an awesome double feature. I finally convinced my friends to sit down to view the back to back. They played even better than I thought, both bring ging out the elements I had picked up on earlier. More than that they actually have scenes shot in the same diner! Possibly even the same table.

      If you plan to ever revisit either film, I highly recommend watching both.

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  5. Its all downhill in drive after the brilliant Staples Center opening

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  6. Great show, and I got excited to revisit this film.

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  7. Great show guys - I remember Drive was a divisive movie among friends who'd seen it but I really liked it a lot and now I definitely want to watch it again soon.

    And it's been awhile but I thought I remember the kiss in the elevator very much being a "goodbye" or at least a "I'm going to kiss you now because you're not going to want to kiss me again after what happens next" but I'll watch for his expression as the door closes to see if that add some ambiguity.

    In the end maybe it is more style than substance but I feel like it's got enough substance to make it a complete film.

    And I'll definitely try to check out Klute!

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  8. Great one this was. Glad you spent so much time on the elevator kiss. Every interpretation you guys gave I think could be correct. Really, they all work. watching it again, and just to add one, I think it could also be something like, he really just goes for it in a way that suggests he thinks he's not making it out alive and he wants to feel the greatest possible human connection he can have at the moment. Being the cold person he is, he wants to feel human before he either a) dies unceremoniously or b) stomps someone into mush and also dies in the process with death being ultimate in both. I think then after he realizes he's alive, he doesn't know how to respond yes because I just murdered this man in front of you, but oh yeah hey I also planted one hell of a kiss on you and I wasn't expecting to deal with any actions afterwards. It's almost he's embarrassed about the kiss, as a young child would be. And on an emotional level, a romantic level, he's probably working with a stunted growth.

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  9. Also, Age of Shadows was the film last year that "beat out" if you will, The Handmaiden for Korea's submission to the Oscars for Best Foreign Language film. Had to watch it last year because of that, and yeah...wrong choice.

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  10. Loved the pod to one of my favorite films of all time.

    As for the kiss goodbye, I think I take it as possibly his last chance to kiss her before he goes pumpkin smashing. The look on his face after is one of realizing what he's done and kind of waiting to see how she'll react. Almost waiting for her to get back on the elevator with him or not. So I think he took that moment to kiss her in case she wasn't able to stay with him afterward.

    Great scene, great movie. I would be curious to see what you guys would have to say about Only God Forgives. Such an interesting movie and ultimately, I think, a disappointment to what could've been.

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