Drive
I recently complained to Loris that I don’t like Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan in the new “The Great Gatsby” movie, especially since I was excited to see Leonardo DiCaprio play Gatsby. As you might all know, I am now a dedicated Leo fan and I think he’s quite perfect for the role. Now Daisy might be a terrible woman, but I don’t want her to be the sad-faced crybaby that Carey Mulligan always is. In my imagination, Daisy Buchanan is something like an air-headed femme fatale, a dashing beauty who is not exactly stupid but perhaps a mix of maliciousness and ignorance. She must at least be exceedingly attractive and have the qualities of a desirable flower. The last thing she should look like is meek or negative in any sense, but that is exactly what Carey Mulligan is doing most of the time! In “Never let me go” she was perfect for her role – and so were the other characters, but Daisy? Daisy?! Daisy is a woman one must hate, but would not because one sees her with the eyes of Gatsby who is obsessed with her. I have no idea why anyone in this world would get obsessed with Carey Mulligan. (Actresses who would work as Daisy? Charlize Theron, Cameron Diaz, Rachel McAdams, Scarlett Johansson, heck even Evan Rachel Wood would be great.)
In the end, Loris brought up a good point. The 1974 version of the film features Mia Farrow in the role of Daisy – she is exactly the same meek, negative type! Is it me, am I misinterpreting her character? Is she supposed to be played by an annoying face of eternal misery?
Alright, enough complaining about Carey Mulligan, especially since she was okay in this movie. She was basically just the damsel in distress here and didn’t have to do that much. To me, she appeared likable enough and that was enough. One could say the same thing about Ryan Gosling. After seeing him in “Blue Valentine” and “The Ides of March”, I think that the blank-faced samurai type character suits him (he could literally play anything) but it does not fully exploit his capabilities as an actor. I think there is a surprising large amount of great and good-looking actors – Johnny Depp, aforementioned Leonardo DiCaprio and now Ryan Gosling come to mind. I liked his cold and almost harsh attitude with a big heart underneath the surface, but it did not really contribute to the enjoyment of the film.
The biggest problem of “Drive” is that… it is not a good movie. Sure, it’s dramatic and fast-paced, but also pretty predictable and bland. Sure, the shots are beautiful, but there is more to beauty that night shots of L.A. from a helicopter. For me, the beauty of “Drive” is too artificial and not pure enough. And finally, I find the storyline of the film absolutely hollow, and the terrible “A real hero” song does not help its cause. I am not elaborating much here, but I also don’t think my harsh criticism needs too much explanation. I knew beforehand that the film would not be the best in the world (thanks for the warning!), what I did not expect was that the style of the film left me quite unimpressed.
In that respect, Gorp, I have higher expectations for “The American” since I think Corbijn’s style is pretty great (at least in “Control”). As for “Drive”, well I’d say I am indifferent. Currently I am doing research on what we call ‘regret’ – the quantification of the loss you incur because you ‘regret’ not having taken some other action. Now I don’t regret having seen the film, as it was not a complete waste of time but I probably would also not regret missing the film if I had known beforehand how little I would like it. In essence, Regret(Drive) = 0.
HAHAHA incidentally most people hate The American and kind of love Drive.
The former is surely less pompously stylish and puts a little more effort in plot – not that its plot is anything amazing, but the two things are sort of better balanced and the whole thing is quite watchable. Drive is…well, certainly marvellous for its complete stylistic integrity, but it falls short in just about anything else. I do last the last shot though – i don’t know but I kind of like that whole real hero thing? LOL. I basically slept through 2/3 of the film so I cannot really give any opinion, really.
I read comparisons to Collateral, a film I love. Most of it takes place at night, and in a way the film also creates this certain artifice, in which the night seems to be the only place the characters ever get to see or live in. However that film is actually plotted brilliantly while Drive is not. Michael Mann has also been making films, that are practically only concerned with male characters for ages, and he would not see the necessity of such a half-assed Carey Mulligan character, like, ever.
Collateral sounds very good! (Despite the Tom-Cruise-ness but then again there have been numerous Tom Cruise movies I have liked.)
I don’t think “Control” was that popular and somehow I really liked it. So we will see. Maybe your opinion also doesn’t count because you slept through the movie =P But really, I don’t think this is something you would want to see again.
Carey Mulligan is the most generic damsel in distress character ever. She even comes with the ultimate tearjerker – a little child she takes care of. My goodness.