NICOLAS WINDING REFN, “DRIVE”

By Brandon Harris

“Riveting” is an adjective quite frequently used by entertainment journalists when describing crime movies, thrillers, or really anything that might simply offer its fair share of violent and shocking surprises. After seeing Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive, however, one must reevaluate this clear over usage. Refn’s film, for which he took home the Cannes Best Director prize, brings fresh meaning to the term as it regards to narrative cinema. I must emphasize: this is an absolutely engrossing entertainment, surely one of the most potent and unforgettably propulsive stories you’ll encounter on a silver screen this year. A simple recap of its story will probably leave you unenthralled, as, in its broadest outlines, Drive is but another modern neo-noir with a tough, taciturn hero (a stunt driver by day, a getaway driver by night) caught in a moral conundrum with some very bad men. Yet as you’ll see in the following conversation with its 40-year-old director, Drive‘s simplicity, its embrace of the mythic and the familiar, combined with Refn and his very fine cabal of actors’ abundance of craft, (a brilliant Ryan Gosling, ably supported by Bryan Cranston, Carey Mulligan, Oscar Isaac, Ron Perlman and the indispensable Albert Brooks in his best supporting turn since Out of Sight) has led to something quite special.

Refn burst onto the international film scene at 24 with his Danish dope-dealing flick Pusher, which spawned an entire trilogy now celebrated by genre cinema dorks the world over. His reputation solidified with 2009′s Bronson, about the notorious British criminal Michael Gordon Petersen, who received seven years in prison for robbing a Post Office. Because of his various hijinks behind bars, he ended up spending 30 years in solitary confinement. Refn followed up Bronson’s success by reuniting with Pusher collaborator (and erstwhile Bond villain) Mads Mikkelsen for the medieval action pic Valhalla Rising, but seems geared toward an entirely new level of recognition and box office success with his latest, which while recalling the noir traditions, William Friedkin’s To Live and Die in L.A. and the … Read the rest

TRAILER WATCH: NICHOLAS WINDING REFN’S “DRIVE”

By Scott Macaulay

Here’s the just released redband trailer for Nicholas Winding Refn’s Drive, which stars Ryan Gosling and picked up the Best Director award at this year’s Cannes’ Film Festival. I flat out loved this smart throwback to the neon lit, stylish and smart genre movies of the ’80s.

… Read the rest

LIVE BLOGGING THE CANNES AWARDS CEREMONY

By Scott Macaulay

The Cannes Awards Ceremony has just begun, hosted by Melanie Laurent. I’ll be refreshing this page as the awards unfold.

The Short Film Prize, announce by Michel Gondry, goes to Cross Country, by Ukraine’s Maryna Vroda.

The Camera d’Or, given to best first film, goes to Argentinia’sLas Acacias, by Pablo Giorgelli.

To the strains of Morricone’s score for Once Upon a Time in America, jury president Robert De Niro joins Laurent on stage to introduce his fellow jury members: Olivier Assayas, Uma Thurman, Johnnie To, Martina Gusman, Nansun Shi, Linn Ullman, and Mahamat Saleh Haroun. And they announce the Jury Prize, to Maiwenn’s Polisse (pictured), an ensemble drama set within the Child Protection Services division of a metropolitan police department. The title comes from a child’s misspelling of the word “police.” She invites her whole cast on stage in order to share in the photo op for her film.

Rosario Dawson awards the Screenplay Prize to Joseph Cedar for the Israeli drama/comedy, Footnote. Cedar had returned to Tel Aviv during the festival and, it is announced, is currently on his way back. In a note, he thanked his distributor Sony Classics, his French distributor, Haut et Court, and saluted late Kino topper Don Krim.

Best Actress goes to Kirsten Dunst for Lars von Trier’s Melancholia. “What a week it’s been!” she says. She thanks “Lars for giving me the opportunity to be so brave in this part… such a special night for me, and thank you so much.”

French director Nicole Garcia gives the Best Director to Nicolas Winding Refn for Drive. He reads his speech from his iPhone and gives a shout-out to fellow director Gaspar Noe along with thanking Ryan Gosling, calling him his “favorite alter ego.”

Catherine Deneuve gives the Best Actor prize to Jean Dujardin, for his role in the silent-film reverie, The Artist — an extremely popular choice given the standing ovation here.

Melanie Laurent is now saluting Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who was unable to attend Cannes for his This is Not a Film. The Grand … Read the rest

NICOLAS WINDING REFN, “VALHALLA RISING”

By Lauren Wissot

Valhalla Rising, which stars Mads Mikkelsen (best known for playing the much more suave devil Le Chiffre in Casino Royale) as a one-eyed, mute, enslaved gladiator who joins a group of Viking Christians on a conquest that turns into an existential journey to hell, is certainly not what one would expect from Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn. And that’s part of the beauty of the film. Before this latest atmospheric mood piece containing echoes of Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Refn helmed the hyperkinetic Bronson, about England’s most dangerous criminal turned cult hero who never seemed at a loss for words or fists. Prior to that Refn made his name crafting stories from the drug-dealing underworld in his Pusher trilogy (which, incidentally, was Mikkelsen’s launching pad into film). Refn it seems is less like his fellow Dane Lars Von Trier and more like American Steven Soderbergh, both directors in constant motion, striving less to create important art than to simply surprise themselves. And by doing so, they often achieve both.

Filmmaker: Watching Valhalla Rising I kept thinking of certain American movies, but maybe that’s just because as an American most of my touchstones are American. The film felt like 2001: A Space Odyssey with the sound design from The Shining. Also, Malick’s The New World once the characters reach “The Holy Land” chapter. But once again, this might just be because I’m a huge fan of Kubrick and Malick. Who or what were your influences going into production?

Nicolas Winding Refn: Yeah, there’s 2001, a lot of that in Valhalla. There’s also El Topo, the Jodorowsky movie. The film was very much a mixture of the films I grew up watching.

Filmmaker: Was The Shining in there at all? I kept hearing Kubrick.

Refn: Ah, I think probably in the use of non-music — but not so consciously. The music itself was very much inspired by experimental sound like Einstürzende Neubauten.

Filmmaker: Really? I’m a big fan of Nick Cave. (Interviewer’s note: Einstürzende Neubauten’s lead vocalist and guitarist Blixa Bargeld is … Read the rest