DRIVE (2011) / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: NICOLAS WINDING REFN / SCREENPLAY: HOSSEIN AMINI / STARRING: RYAN GOSLING, CAREY MULLIGAN, BRYAN CRANSTON / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
One of the surprise sleeper hits of 2011, Drive roared into cinema screens and managed to cross over from a sure-fire cult classic to a pop culture hit. It’s an art movie for the mainstream, bringing a sideways take to crime, getaway driver films, with a measured pace, beautiful visuals and blasts of ultraviolence. It was the introduction of Nicolas Winding Refn’s unique vision and filmmaking style to mainstream cinema screens and audiences, sent Ryan Gosling stratospheric, and featured one of cinemas most iconic and coolest jackets, a piece of costume that only works inside the film.
This new release is low on the ground in terms of variation of extras but it’s been brought out with one big, previously unavailable addition: a film rescore. Back in 2014, radio DJ Zane Lowe – in partnership with Radio One – rescored the film with collaborators including The 1975, Chvrches, and Bring Me the Horizon. Broadcast on BBC Three, it’s previously been unavailable as a home release. The rescore seems like an admirable but foolhardy task. The original score to Drive, composed by Cliff Martinez and with tracks by underground bands such as College and Kavinsky, was a perfect marriage of music and visuals, the electronic, synth sounds marrying with the retro ‘80s, neon pink feel and mood of the movie. While the rescore isn’t bad, it doesn’t measure up, making Drive feel more generic, pumping in bass where it’s not needed. The rescore can’t quite help itself in being too obvious, throwing in pounding music over car chase scenes that previously allowed the images and sound design do the talking. You also lose some of the operatic feel of the film. It’s not a failure; it’s just an interesting experiment, a curiosity. It’s worth a watch if you’re interested but we’d be very surprised if anyone chose it as their preferred version.
The release also has a Q&A with Winding Refn, a gallery, and a feature of the making of the rescore. It’s an interesting piece, with some short interviews from the musicians and Lowe himself, and gives you a glimpse into the work, ideas and thought that went into the rescore.
Drive remains a brilliant film, worthy of being endlessly re-watched. It’s good to have the rescored version finally on release for anyone who didn’t manage to see it before, but it’s much more of a curio than a lost classic redux.
