Evening all,
After the resounding success of my last entry (6 - Drive), I thought I'd do an entire entry to Drive's director Nicolas Winding Refn, a director I am extremely fond of and who's style has been honed to a point after an explosive entry into the film world.
But first, introductions.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Nicolas:
Nicolas has recently found accolades and fame through his 2011 film Drive, receiving the Best Director award at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival as well as being nominated for a BAFTA in the same catagory (alongside directing powerhouses Tomas Alfredson and Scorcese.) However, life in this vein was not always on the cards for Refn, in fact he started out in a very different situation.
Born 1970 in Copenhagen, Winding Refn's first film started out as a 5 minute short for an application to the Danish Film School. Upon his rejection, he continued to expand the film, initially using friends and family to fund and act. He managed to acquire $1 million and began to make the movie in a more traditional fashion, during the making of the film the Danish Film School accepted him but he turned them down to finish the film. Presumptious yes! Arrogant, yes!
The film that resulted was Pusher.
At a time where English language films were still in love with Pulp Fiction, True Romance, Tarantino-esque slick, cool homages. Pusher was a handheld nightmare, a sordid story of an unpleasant man who finds himself in a VERY unpleasant situation and the increasing levels of desperation are all the more vivid because of the grimy, documentry feel of the film.
As the director, Winding Refn filmed the scenes in chronological order (apart from one or two scene re-shoo0ts after main filming had finished) because filming out of order 'confused' him. To capture a raw feel, he also filmed scenes without prior rehearsals, a practise that required actors and actresses were up to the role. Several weeks before filming, the actor who was playing the main character Frank was fired because Winding Refn felt he was too boring and lacked the presence needed to pull of such an intense role. With no replacement in line, he went to the (already established) Danish actor Kim Bodnia to take over as Frank. The main result of this was that the reaction of the cast acting against Kim was genuine because they were used to the previous actor's more gentle style of acting as opposed to Bodnia's brash, aggresive, instense acting. This shows. It turns out to be a highlight of the film.
Alongside Bodnia was fellow Dane, Mads Mikkelsen (known to most as Le Chiffre in Casino Royale) as Tonny. An actor who has remained close to Winding Refn and appeared in his later films.
The film was a big success in Denmark and found modest fame in the rest of the world, was the first main film in the 'gangster' genre of Danish cinema and launched Winding Refn's career.
Over the next fews years, Winding Refn released a few more films, Bleeder, starring Kim Bodnia and Mads Mikkelson again and Fear X, an English language film starring John Turturro.
Receiving moderate to positive reviews, Fear X was none-the-less a critical failure. Leading to the bankruptcy of his film company Jango Star. The debt of $1 million Refn found himself in led him to release a sequel to the now smash film Pusher (a film he had no intention to make a sequel to). Focusing this time on Tonny, Mads Mikkelson (now a Danish star) returned to the role that launched him to fame in the first place.
Pusher 2: With Blood on My Hands was released in 2004 and Refn continued with many directorial styles that he had first attempted in Pusher but had been not as prevalent in Bleeder and Fear X. Filmed again in chronological order and with handheld cameras (a technique Refn said allows complete freedom of camera movement), the heavy prevalence for shadow and harsh lighting as well as a series of scenes shot in heavy monochrome (Refn has mild colour blindness). This film, along the trilogy ender Pusher 3: I Am The Angel of Death, were very well received and the trilogy as a whole serves as a complete series of smaller stories within the Danish underworld.
Trailer for the Trilogy here:
After the 2005 Pusher 3, Refn didn't direct another film for 3 years until the deeply disturbing and styled Bronson (a very loose biography of the prisoner of the same name). The film has several features that had been carried over from the Pusher films. Several scenes are filmed in very strong monochrome, the handheld camera work was replaced with more static cameras but the use of quick, strong violence in a world filled with unpleasant people was a theme that continued as well as the attention to darkness and light.
The direction of the film is of special note because the style of the film is satirical, vaudevillian and generally quite bizarre. The style matches the person it tells the story of. Bronson himself and his story is disturbing and bizarre and the style of the film matches this.
It's not your average film style.
It's also pretty fucking depressing and dirty. Not recommended for all.
Only a year after Bronson was released, Refn teamed up once again with Mads to make historical fighty, art house historical Valhalla Rising. Playing a mute Norse warrior called One Eye, Mads carves up people starting out in the highlands but then travelling by boat, with the aim of joining the Crusades in Jerusalem.
The film depart from Refn's usual style in almost all respects. The direction is slow, languishing but focusing on scenes of beauty and importance. There are still the quick outbursts of violence and the world populated by unpleasant, violent people but the camera work specifically is much more static, similar to Bronson as opposed to his earlier films.
And last year, as noted last episode, Refn released Drive. What many consider his most accomplished work yet. The camera remains more static, a style more noted in his later films. The use of darkness and shadow play a large role in the film and there are still monochrome scenes but they have been toned down since Pusher 2 for example.
The film is populated (once more) by dangerous and grizzled men and the violence remains sudden and shocking.
However, there is a more subtle style at work in Drive than in any of his other film. Whilst long takes of actors faces are present in most of his films, as in Drive, the direction in this film seems to so much more match the change in tones the film takes. In his Pusher films, the camera style and shot style is continous, regardless of what is happening on the screen (possibly due to Pusher's small budget), in Drive, the long takes are mixed in more comfortably with quicker editing in the 'faster' scenes, helping the audience to get excited in action and more laid back for the inaction.
Now sitting comfortably at the start of 2012 as one of Europe's most talented directors, Winding Refn looks to be teaming up with his main man Ryan Gosling again for a proposed 2014 remake of the classic Logan's Run. A remake that I'm sure will divide you, dear readers.
Until next time.
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