Ovabnai: Nicolas Winding Refn: An Appreciation

Sometimes you just know, but can?t always properly articulate, why a particular film is great. Or, in the case of ?Drive??the latest film from Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn and starring?Ryan Gosling as a movie stunt driver by day and getaway driver by night who falls in love while getting on the bad side of some nasty criminals?when the trailer finally dropped?way back in June 2011, we thought the film looked amazing, and never imagined we?d have to explain why. It?s one of those previews you see and it looks like the most badass piece of cinema in years (the trailer is not unlike the one for ?The Tree of Life? in its power to capture the imagination and induce puddles of film-loving drool, but for genre movie geeks instead of arthouse nerds), and then you watch it again, and again.

Or maybe you didn?t. If someone sees that preview, shrugs it off, and wonders why anyone is excited for the film, well then, I?m at a loss for words. If we have to explain why it looks awesome it may just be a waste of time. It?s something you just know by seeing it. Now you can appreciate ?Drive? as well as six other films by Refn that precluded his most well-regarded, and widely-seen film to date in his still young career, courtesy of the latest series at The Northwest Film Center?s Whitsell Auditorium?affectionately called Driven: The Films of Nicolas Winding Refn.

Anyone who?s nice enough to humor me as I chatter on about movies knows I?m the furthest thing from a closeted Nicolas Winding Refn fan. I make no secret about my love for the guy, and his films, starting with his excellent debut ?Pusher? in 1996 all the way through to ?Drive.? which caps off the series March 18. It would be too easy, but not entirely inaccurate, to classify Refn as a genre deconstructionist in the vein of Quentin Tarantino. They share a similar anti-authoritarian view of the world, an eye for brutal and beautiful violence, and Refn is every bit the passionate student of cinema and true movie geek as the ?Inglourious Basterds? helmer is famous for being. But I?d actually peg him as a more talented Euro version of the?David Gordon Green?school of filmmaking. He seemingly wants to tackle every single genre out there, and revels in that sweet spot between high art and entertainment.

If you?ve been following ?Drive? ever since its premiere at Cannes?last year (where Refn went on to win Best Director at the festival amidst near unanimous glowing reviews for the film), then you know he?s not only begun what looks to be a long, fruitful collaboration with Gosling (the two are teaming up again for Refn?s follow-up to ?Drive,? the Thai boxing crime drama ?Only God Forgives,? which is currently filming and sounds?prepare for a shock?awesome), but he also hopes to adapt ?Wonder Woman? with ?Drive? co-star (and ?Mad Men? beauty) Christina Hendricks; he?s prepping a sex thriller set in Miami with Carey Mulligan (also in ?Drive?) which may or may not be his take on the horror genre as well; Gosling and Refn have also expressed interest in making a romantic comedy, hopefully written by ?Drive? villain (and comedy legend) Albert Brooks, but Brooks is playing things down on that at the moment. And of course, we can?t forget that Gosling and Refn are set to team up again for a ?Logan?s Run? remake.

It?s not surprising that Refn found his need for a creative outlet in cinema. He grew up in Denmark, his mother a successful photographer and his father, Anders Refn, is a veteran director and editor in the Danish film industry (he cut Lars Von Trier?s ?Breaking the Waves? and ?Antichrist?). In 1981 Refn moved to New York City where he learned English and rebelled against the more artsy taste of his parents by turning to genre movies. When he caught Tobe Hooper?s ?The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? he had a sudden realization: film is an art form. Every cinephile has this realization at some point in their life, and the film that spurs this epiphany in a person often reverberates in them for the rest of their life, shaping one?s taste and preference in cinema. Refn is no different. Looking at his already impressive filmography to date, those that share an affinity for artfully crafted hard-edged, dark universes will be right at home in any of his films?where, as the filmmaker put it during an?interview?last year on The Sound of Young America, ?violence is part of the catharsis, [the characters] have to go through extreme pain and suffering in order to obtain what they?re meant to be.?

It was his time in New York City, mostly dedicated to consuming films, that seemed to shape Refn ? a dyslexic who couldn?t read until he was 13; no wonder images and films held such power over his imagination ? in to the filmmaker he is. Even beyond his established chameleonic abilities and desires, he also manages to successfully put a piece of himself in every film, and has evolved in to a more mature filmmaker throughout his still young career. He briefly studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts until he was expelled for throwing a table in to a wall, and passed on being one of only six people selected in to the Danish Film Institute when he was able to develop what was his application short film in to a full-length feature, which eventually became his debut ?Pusher,? released in 1996 to a steadily growing wave of cult appreciation. It?s safe to say this film, along with Mathieu Kassovitz?s ?La Haine? in 1995, are incredibly influential to modern crime cinema to this day, featuring gritty style, social realism and a lack of romanticizing that?s still prevalent in subsequent important and successful crime movies, namely ?City of God,? ?Gomorrah,? ?A Prophet,? ??Animal Kingdom? and even this year?s PIFF 35?title ?Bullhead.?

As is often the case, early successes led to inevitable failure. Refn?s career hit some speed bumps after his sophomore effort ?Bleeder? in 1999 and its follow-up four years later, ?Fear X,? his first film shot in English and starring John Turturro. The poor box office performance of ?Fear X? bankrupted Refn and his production company, called Jang Go Star. This unfortunate turn of events led the color blind filmmaker (he can?t see mid colors, hence the high level of contrast in all his works) to scrap his next planned film, ?Billy?s People,? (which has never been made) and head back to the world of ?Pusher,? in the form of two sequels he wrote and directed in the span of two years. This paid off, as portrayed in the excellent 2006 documentary ?Gambler? (available as a special feature on the Pusher Trilogy DVD set). The ?Pusher? sequels are every bit as good, if not better, than their predecessor, expanding the world established in the first film and offering a deeper glimpse in to the lives of characters who began as supporting players, and delivering genuine pathos. They are the rare example of a filmmaker making two fantastic sequels?successful both critically and commercially?almost entirely for the money.

With his debts paid off and a new-found artistic philosophy, Refn moved on to the next stage in his career, which he?s still in. The valleys of ?Fear X? and the recaptured peaks of the ?Pusher? sequels, coupled with the birth of his first child, were profound. When ?Bronson? came along, Refn set out to make a movie about his life. He spoke about his vision for the 2008 film in an interview on The Treatment: ?that kind of nihilism [in the Bronson character] was very much me when I was younger. The films I made were very destructive, I was very self destructive, art had to be self destructive. People who saw my films had to be destroyed by them. I was very infantile and arrogant.? Then it was on to ?Valhalla Rising,? something he sees as ?[the] first new canvas of my image, after my transformation.?

It?s all about balance for Refn. He?s a true talent, a much-touted collaborative filmmaker with auteur sensibilities who considers and respects the audience with every film, but manages to retain an artistic integrity at the same time. His films are violent, honest, ambitious and entertaining. We?ll let the man himself elaborate (again, from the Sound of Young America interview): ?Art is meant to penetrate you. Violence doesn?t have to be an act of physical violence, it can be emotional violence. It doesn?t have to be destructive. It can be a violent emotion, but not necessarily a bad one? In my films I always approach violence like sex. It?s all about the buildup. The climax itself is a mechanical procedure that we as an audience know is not true. My job is to make the buildup so engaging that whatever happens in front of us actually affects us, but it only affects us because we believe the emotion before it.?

I certainly hope that you do go out this next 10 days, and hopefully enjoy all or some of Refn?s films. Seriously, I?ve been shilling for this filmmaker for a long time now, and the talk around the Film Center water cooler continues to be passionate and positive, with the most encouraging comments being that ?Drive,? especially, reminds us why we love movies. If that doesn?t get you excited, perhaps this premature (we?re expecting even greater things from this guy in the future) appreciate of Refn?s oeuvre will do the job.