Prof. Myrna Monllor English 124

1. Prof. Myrna Monllor English 124

2. James SallisAmerican crime writer Drive…unusual novel Nonlinear structure Cinematic structure in the way it cuts from one episode to another Short chapters/dialogue driven Pared down writing where description is reduced to the minimum Deceptively plain prose Examines the emptiness of life The writer’s style makes us feel as lost and isolated as Driver

3. Noir Conventions • Dark themes and mood • Protagonist is • an antihero • a victim of a con game • The city at night • The city as • Dangerous • Lawless • isolating

4. The Setting L.A. Phoenix Childhood memories Background information • vacant and empty • Nihilistic world • fame-hunting inhabitants

5. Plot developmentNonlinear • weaves back and forth telling Driver’s troublesome background and his life as a driver in L.A. • Intercuts/crosscuts (interweaves two different/separate scenes • Reversals • flashbacks • action sequence

6. Plot Development

7. The Beginning “Much later, as he sat with his back against an inside wall of a Motel 6 just north of Phoenix, watching the pool of blood lap toward him, Driver would wonder whether he had made a terrible mistake.” In media res

8. Desuetude “Desuetude.” “Reading again, are we? Could be dangerous….It means to become unaccustomed to. As in something gets discontinued, falls into disuse.”

9. Characters Driver What is his family background? his mother his father friends (Herb, Jorge) Mr. and Mrs. Smith Why is he described as “ a shadow”? He’d been something of a stranger to and in his body ever since. When he walked, his arms flailed about and he shambled. If he tried to run, often as not he’d trip and fall over.

10. Relationships in the novel • Irina and Driver • Driver and Standard • Driver and Manny Gilden • Driver and Shannon • Driver and Bernie Rose

11. Other Characters • His parents • Irina • Benicio • Blanche • Manny Gilden • Bernie Rose • Fred • Standard • Gordon Ligocki • Shannon • Nino • Doc • Miss Dickinson

12. The Ending “Far from the end for Driver, this. In years to come, years before he went down at 3:00 am on a clear, cool morning in a Tijuana Bar, years before Manny Gilden turned his life into a movie, there’d be other killings, other bodies. Bernie Rose was the only one he ever mourned.”

13. Drive (2011) I've always liked characters that because of the circumstances, have to transform themselves, and in the end, it's inevitable that what they end up becoming is what they were meant to be. (Wikipedia) Nicolas Winding Refn

14. Drive (2011) Budget $15,000,000

15. References • In a career-defining performance, Alain Delon plays a contract killer with samurai instincts. A razor-sharp cocktail of 1940s American gangster cinema and 1960s French pop culture—with a liberal dose of Japanese lone-warrior mythology—maverick director Jean-Pierre Melville’s masterpiece Le Samouraï defines cool. http://www.criterion.com/films/184-le-samourai

16. Silence and Angles

17. Initial SongNightcall

18. The MusicNightcall I'm giving you a night call to tell you how I feelI want to drive you through the night, down the hillsI'm gonna tell you something you don't want to hearI'm gonna show you where it's dark, but have no fearThere something inside youIt's hard to explainThey're talking about you boyBut you're still the sameThere something inside youIts hard to explainThey're talking about you boyBut you're still the same http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV_3Dpw-BRY

19. A Real Hero

20. The MusicA Real Hero A Real a human being And a real hero Back against the wall and odds With the strength of a will and a cause Your pursuits are called outstanding You're emotionally complex Against the grain of dystopic claims Not the thoughts your actions entertain And you, have proved, to be A real human being, and a real herohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boFhHOjljs0

21. Under Your Spell

22. The MusicUnder Your Spell I don't eat I don't sleep I do nothing but think of you You keep me under your spell (3x) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtKqIpqUH6A

23. Oh My Love

24. The MusicOh My Love Oh my loveLook and seeThe Sun rising from the riverNature's miracle once moreWill light the worldBut this lightIs not for those menStill lost inAn old black shadowWon't you help me to believeThat they will see A dayA brighter dayWhen all the shadowsWill fade awayThat day I'll cryThat I believeThat I believeOh my loveHigh above usThe Sun nowEmbraces NatureAnd from Nature we should learnThat all can start againAs the stars must fade awayTo give a bright new day http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiuRzXXrFao

25. There's a hundred-thousand streets in this city. You don't need to know the route. You give me a time and a place, I give you a five minute window. Anything happens in that five minutes and I'm yours. No matter what. Anything happens a minute either side of that and you're on your own. Do you understand?

26. The Scorpion Why are there so many shots of Driver’s jacket and the scorpion in the back?

27. Why does the film begin by showing Driver doing a job and then switch to Driver’s meeting of Irene and Benicio?

28. The love story What is the importance of the elevator?

29. Driver and Irene The love triangle is established from the beginning. Look at the image in the mirror.

30. The love story What do Benicio and Irene represent for Driver?

31. The idyllic This day scene contrasts with all other scenes we see of the setting.

32. The love story Why do Benicio and Driver bond so rapidly? He asks the kid how he can tell that one of the cartoon characters is the bad guy. “Because he’s a shark.”, he assures him. “There’s no good sharks?” he asks. “No. I mean just look at him. Does he look like a good guy to you?” http://cinephilefix.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/987/

33. The love triangle

34. Becoming the hero

35. Becoming the hero Observe the angle

36. Becoming the hero The bullet

37. Driver’s violent side This first shot is for the viewer who at this point realizes the violence Driver is capable of. A similar shot will be shown as Irene also realizes who and what he is.

38. Driver’s violent side

39. The Kiss

40. Elevator Scene

41. Why is the love story impossible?

42. Realizing the truth Image of Entrapment

43. God’s eye view

44. God’s eye view Now, you just got a little boy's father killed. And you almost got us killed. And now you're lying to me. So how about this? From now on, every word out of your mouth is the truth. Or I'm going to hurt you.

45. The Characters: Irene How is her relationship with Driver different from the one with her husband?

46. Characters: Standard

47. Characters: Cook

48. The Characters: Shannon

49. The Con Men Nino Bernie

50. The Characters: Blanche