To conclude our NWR retrospective we go behind the scenes of his highly controversial follow-up to Drive. Shot by Refn’s wife, and featuring a prophetical encounter with cult legend Jodorowsky, this insightful doc is a testament to the fears, anxieties and passion inherent to any creative process.
Continuing his sublimely minimalist collaboration with the handsome, monosyllabic Ryan Gosling after the sharkskin-sleek Drive, Refn gave us his most controversial feature: A dangerous, exoticized mash-up of Asian spirituality and iconography, pulp Shakespeare, and, of course, hyper-violence.
The Taxi Driver of the new millennium? Drive has resignified coolness in cinema. An instant cult classic that adds a twist to the bad-but-good guy figure, establishing Gosling as a new kind of antihero (a real human being!). Welcome to a world of intoxicating beauty and sadness. Enjoy the ride.
Before Drive brought him a new legion of fans, cult sensation Nicolas Winding Refn made his debut with this sleek, unforgettable gangster flick, which rewires Mean Streets with style to burn. A huge success, spawning sequels and remakes, it established him as a distinct talent. More Refn to come!