Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan in a scene from "Drive"
Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn (USA)
Tense car chases, action scenes handled with crisp panache and Canadian actor Ryan Gosling channelling Steve McQueen as an existential wheel man add up to make Drive one of the best arty-action films since Steven Soderbergh's The Limey. Gosling's character – a stunt driver by day, a getaway man by night – and his ambitious manager (Bryan Cranston) get involved with some bad people, Albert Brooks playing a razor-wielding thug/movie producer and Ron Perlman as his nastier partner. True to its seventies genre roots, the plot is enthusiastically pulpy, with the hero compelled to protect a young mother (Carey Mulligan) while battling his enemies.
Sept. 10, 9:15 p.m., Ryerson; Sept. 11, 9 a.m., Lightbox 1
Liam Lacey