3.26 - DRIVE and Tension

The next in our NWR mini-season is his 2011 film DRIVE. One of us has radically changed his stance on the film (spoiler alert: Rob won’t be tearing down his poster)—after a few minutes of reviews, we get stuck into psychopathy on screen, subverting type, and just why this film is s tense.

 

Next Week

Our NWR mini-season concludes with his most recent feature, 2016’s THE NEON DEMON (available here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Neon-Demon-Elle-Fanning/dp/B01MAV25IZ).

 

This Week’s Media

LADY BIRD (2018): Greta Gerwig, Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf

ANNIHILATION (2018): Alex Garland, Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh

 

Recommendations

RONIN (1998): John Frankenheimer, Robert De Niro, Jean Reno

CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE. (2011): Glenn Ficarra, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling

AN EDUCATION (2009): Lone Scherfig, Lynn Barber, Carey Mulligan

INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS (2013): Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Oscar Isaacs

 

Footnotes

(Almost 50% female representation in our ‘This Week’ and ‘Recommendation’ sections, this time. Shortly after International Women’s Day, and we’re getting there…) Firstly, here are the IMDB pages for some of the playing-against-type actors that we mentioned this week: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0331516 (Ryan Gosling), http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0186505 (Bryan Cranston), http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000579 (Ron Perlman). This is an interesting article on the incredibly dangerous stunt performers’ industry, and tragic related fatalities: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/aug/18/film-stunt-performers-injuries-deaths-hollywood. After Rob mentioned horror films, and why they work, it got me thinking about this piece: http://uk.businessinsider.com/why-horror-films-scary-fear-neuroscience-psychology-2016-10. Finally, this isn’t a single-location film, but as we didn’t really have time to discuss, LA plays a big role in the background of this film, both literally and metaphorically; here’s a list of other good location-focused pieces: http://www.vulture.com/2017/04/the-best-one-location-movies-from-green-room-to-buried.html.