Drive's USP & Positioning

USP
Based on novel by James Sallis, Drive is an ultra-violent action film for the contemplative art house crowd.

Competition
Films that could possibly be compared to Drive include the Fast & the Furious series, Drive Angry, and The American.

The Fast & the Furious series and Drive Angry were both marketed similarly: fast cars, pretty girls, and familiar action stars assaulted our senses on television screens over booming rock music and giant billboards. They were packaged towards young men who enjoyed seeing a car crash or eight and the lead overcome the odds (revenge in Drive Angry and a heist in Fast & the Furious).

The American is very similar to Drive in terms of marketing and content. Both were about mysterious men (lead by film heartthrobs) who used violence as a means to an end. The difference I believe is who they were marketed to. George Clooney and Ryan Gosling are nearly 20 years apart in age and as a result have a different fan base. The American's demographic consisted of middle aged patrons whereas Drive still marketed (incorrectly, I believe) as a fast paced action flick, had a much younger audience.

Positioning
Drive is the action film for thinkers. It involves all the twists, turns, racing, and crashes as the previous films discussed, but with minimalism and substance that independent film fans will enjoy.

About Drive

Ryan Gosling stars in Drive, which follows a mysterious Hollywood stuntman & mechanic by day and getaway driver by night as he falls in love with his neighbor, Irene. When her husband is released from prison, The Driver helps him settle his debts by acting as getaway driver to a pawn shop robbery. When the job goes tragically wrong, The Driver has to navigate his way through gangsters and assassins to protect Irene and her child.

Official Poster

Drive Official US Poster

Source: screened.com

Trailer

Main Cast & Crew

I've watched the film twice: once at the Plaza Cinema Cafe in Downtown Orlando and again at the Regal Oviedo Marketplace. The second viewing was even better than the first.

Starring:

• Ryan Gosling as Driver
• Carey Mulligan as Irene
• Albert Brooks as Bernie Rose
• Bryan Cranston as Shannon
• Ron Perlman as Nino
• Oscar Isaac as Standard Gabriel
• Christina Hendricks as Blanche
• Kaden Leos as Benicio

Written by Hossein Amini
Produced by Michel Litvak, John Palermo, Marc Platt, Gigi Pritzker, & Adam Siegel
Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn

Festival Circuit

2011 Film Festival Circuit:

• Cannes Film Festival
• Los Angeles Film Festival
• Telluride Film Festival
• Toronto International Film Festival
• Melbourne International Film Festival
• Locarno Film Festival
• Empire Big Screen
• Deauville American Film Festival
• L'Étrange Festival
• Helsinki International Film Festival
• Athens Film Festival
• Donostia-San Sebastian International Film Festival
• Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival
• Amfest 11 American Film Festival
• Sitges Film Festival
• Amsterdam Film Week
• Stockholm International Film Festival
• Festival Internacional de Cinema Negre de Manresa

Reviews & Official Website

"A car picture that unnerves us with its idling quiet, and then pins our ears back when they stomp the accelerator."
- Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

"Buckle up for the existential bloodbath of Drive, a brilliant piece of business that races on a B-movie track until it switches to the dizzying fuel of undiluted creativity."
-Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

"Drive takes the tired heist-gone-bad genre out for a spin, delivering fresh guilty-pleasure thrills in the process."
-Peter Debruge,Variety

"Gosling's masculine, minimalist approach makes him mysteriously compelling. Yes, there's the fact that he's gorgeous. But he also does so much with just a subtle glance, by just holding a moment a beat or two longer than you might expect."
-Christy Lemire, Associated Press

"Drive revels in sensory detail; it's a visually and aurally edgy Euro-influenced American genre movie about the coolness of noir-influenced American genre movies about the coolness of driving - especially in L.A."
-Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

"Anyone watching Drive won't be able to take their eyes off Gosling. Playing a Hollywood stunt driver who moonlights as a wheelman for criminals, he rocks like a young Steve McQueen or Robert De Niro."
-Peter Howell, Toronto Star

"The extreme and escalating violence will prove off-putting to some-frankly, I'm surprised not to have been among them-but for the rest, Drive is a needle-punch of adrenaline to the aorta."
-Christopher Orr, The Atlantic

"[Gosling] and this powerful film, which is ultimately about a moment of grace, deserve each other. He's the medium's most graceful minimalist."
-Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

"Here is still another illustration of the old Hollywood noir principle that a movie lives its life not through its hero, but within its shadows."
-Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

"Enters the viewer like a sharp unseen blade."
-Dana Stevens, Slate

93% on Rotten Tomatoes

Drive Official Website