But that is a small aside. Drive is great. But I kind of think it is a total "in the theater" experience. It lulls you in. I remember thinking - about 1/3 of the way through "this isn't that great", then about 1/2 through thinking "this isn't bad" - then towards the end loving the movie. But if I was at home, I would have got up to pee and Ed and I would say "Do you like this, cuz I am not sure where it is going" - and maybe turn it off.
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It is very much a movie that pulls you in - and that works best for me in a theater. There is a lot.. A LOT.. of silence in this movie. And they don't hide the awkwardness with music - and it moves from weird to uncomfortable, to scary, to a form of expression over the course of the movie.
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And, I cannot imagine it with anyone other than Cary Mulligan and Ryan Gosling. They were perfect. I really believe the movie changed after their casting (well, I know it did as it was written as an action / adventure for Hugh Jackman - and it was so much less AND MORE than that). They are both beautiful, but more than that they can project a hopefulness that is, in itself, hopeless. They keep just enough back that you know they are trying to convince themselves of ... something.
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Okay - it is hard to describe, but great to watch.
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And driving through LA at night relaxed the lead (Ryan). I can SO relate. I can't tell you how many drives up PCH to Malibu I took after a hard day of classes, or a hard day at work, or because I was made at my boyfriend, or I was mad I didn't have a boyfriend, or I was amped up and couldn't sleep, or because it was 2AM and I had to smell the ocean. Something about LA in the middle of the night behind the wheel is calming. And adrenaline producing. And self-erotic. And this movie gets that.