need a toothpick? There is a dark opalescence !"#!'(#.5,+<#"7#A*+/(;#0+@(# a smooth stone beneath *5%%+%8#-)!(*9#?#<"%,!)%!# tension exists between -)N+%8#*(2(<!+"%,;#-)%+%8# refractions and the tug of a current that threatens to pull the stone out of frame, out of existence. A+*(<!"*#T+<'"0),#:+%&+%8# Refn’s patient, atmospheric direction delicately balances the sweet and terrible, ,)<*+$<+%8#%(+!'(*#*".)%<(# nor danger for the duration of the picture. It is a rather <)6!+/)!+%8#(N6(*+(%<(9 D"6#.5,+<#+%#!'+,#$0.# functions like an abstracted inner monologue, a nearly ,)<<')*+%(#(."!+/(#"5!0(!# for our mythically stoic hero (a man crush on Ryan Gosling does not make me biased, it makes me human). On the more prominent songs of the soundtrack, hypnotic beats and earnest /"<)0,#')/(#)%#+..(&+)<K# 6500(&#7*".#B"'%#R58'(,I# /(*,+"%#"7#!'(#`uo\,;#-'(*(# (/(*K"%(#0()*%,#)#0(,,"%# about compassion and the boy gets the girl after pining away for most of the ."/+(9#G(7%#(/(%#+%<05&(,# whole songs the way Hughes did, using the music to guide pacing and cuts, trusting the track to carry much of a scene’s emotional weight, especially regarding the *(0)!+"%,'+6#>(!-((%#!'(#6*+%<+6)0#)%&#'+,#0"/(#+%!(*(,!9# U(!#!'(#<')*)<!(*,#"7#A*+/(#8*)&5)!(&#7*".#'+8'#,<'""0#)# &(<)&(#)8"#c+7#!'(K#8*)&5)!(&#)!#)00d3#)%&;#(/(%#-+!'"5!# (N6",+!+"%;#"%(#<)%#,5*.+,(#!')!#!'(K#')/(#(%<"5%!(*(&# a great many more challenges than from-across-thetracks Molly Ringwald in Sixteen Candles.
The limited insight on the protagonist comes largely from the scenes of him &*+/+%8#+%#!'(#<+!K#)!#%+8'!;# )0"%(9#?#,')00"-#&(6!'#"7# $(0&#7"<5,(,#"%#'+,#7)<(# +%#!'(#*()*#/+(-#.+**"*;#"*# at a low angle from the passenger side wheel well. A*+/+%8#&"(,#%"!#,((.# an act, but a solitary and meaningful existence to this man. ?#0"/(#,!"*K#+,#<(%!*)0#!"# the plot, despite criminal (*56!+"%,#"7#/+"0(%<(9#MK#!'(# director’s own admission, A*+/(#<"%!)+%,#(0(.(%!,#"7# '"**"*#$0.#+%#)#,(!!+%8#!')!# is distinctly non-horror: Refn continually asked that the original score be made a little more “leatherface” to accompany the tense or /+"0(%!#,<(%(,#c'+,#7)/"*+!(# ."/+(#>(+%8#!'(#"*+8+%)0# Texas Chainsaw Massacre). This seeming contradiction between courtship, &(!)<'.(%!#)%&#,)/)8(*K# does nothing to mar the $0.I,#+.6)<!9#G)!'(*;#!'(# juxtaposition makes it more >()5!+7509#B)**+%8#/+"0(%<(#+%# 8)0/)%+](&#,+0(%<(#)%&#>0+,,750# *(2(<!+"%#!+%8(&#-+!'#&*().K;# nostalgic pop both play a role in establishing Gosling as the archetypal protector, a man whom you root for in the best and worst of circumstances. Warm reds, greens, )%&#K(00"-,#&".+%)!(#!'(#$0.9#='(K#<)**K#>"!'#)#&((6# intimacy and a sense of foreboding, and highlight the cool, stable blue, which emanates almost solely from the %).(0(,,#&*+/(*9#='(#/+,5)0#.(0&,#-+!'#!'(#)5&+!"*K;#!'(+*# dominance oscillating seamlessly. I think I hear the colors and smell the nighttime. I cannot think of a better role for a soundtrack than to simulate synesthesia. cameron HOLMES photo by missemmamm at missemmamm.com
f 27