The Ides Of March

There are a lot of actors that try to make the transition into directing, but very few of them pull off being really good at both. George Clooney is one of those. When he finally broke out of "pretty boy" leading man status and developed "respected" leading man cred, he began to move into the directors chair, and hit it out of the park with his debut feature Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind. His newest, The Ides Of March, gathers some of the best talent in the industry and creates a hard look at politics in the wake of the wins and losses of the Obama administration.

Ryan Gosling is Stephen Meyers, a young and idealistic campaign manager for Clooney's Governor Mike Morris, who is running for president (notably under many of the same ideals as Obama, and even sports a knock off of the Shepard Fairey designed "Hope" poster). Meyers teammate, and boss, is Paul Zara (played by Philip Syemour Hoffman). The two are unshakeable in their belief that Morris is the man to lead America, but when a key element of support from another politician isn't forthcoming, Stephen takes up an offer to meet with the manager of the opponents campaign, Tom Duffy (played by Paul Giamatti), against his better judgement. This begins a string of events that could potentially ruin a lot of people's career's, including Stephen's, and derail Moriss' campaign.

Gosling brings his trademark intensity to the role, and Clooney uses it to great effect. In fact Clooney seems to play on all of the strengths of his actors, from Hoffman's quiet and serious nature, to Giamatti's ability to play good cop/sleazy cop, to Evan Rachel Wood's seductiveness, He has picked all of his actors with great consideration. While Ides can sometimes move at a snails pace, it never seems to bloated. The slowness just comes off as a necessary part of the story. Ides doesn't really bring much of anything new to the genre, either, but as a zeitgeist film, focusing on what it means to be an idealistic political candidate or part of the support staff for said candidate, and the reality of how dirty politics is, Ides is a fantastic watch, especially as candidates are already gearing up, heavily, for a race that will be incredibly heated (and possibly messy) in 2012.

Drive

Ryan Gosling has had, at first glance, a fairly privileged career. Rarely seeming to do any "paycheck" films, of which, I'm sure, he could get all that he wanted too, he seems to have spent his career carefully picking his roles and going with the things that interest him. I've found, in enjoying pretty much everything I've seen him in, that by trusting him, I'm trusting in his taste of films, as well. Starring in Nicolas Winding Refn's new film Drive, Gosling continues to make great choices and bring his talents to really well made, or, at the least, enjoyable films.

Gosling plays an anonymous stunt driver for Hollywood, who moonlights as a heist driver. One day, he meets his down the hall neighbor, Irene, played by Carrey Mulligan, and her little boy Benicio (Kaden Leos). He quickly seems to fall in love with Irene, who he spends some time with, very innocently, before learning that her husband, Standard (Oscar Isaac), is being released from prison. When Standard is beaten by some people he owes money too, Gosling's driver offers to help Standard with a pawn shop heist that the thugs want him to pull to pay them back. When the robbery goes wrong, however, leaving Standard dead, it puts everyone in the driver's life in danger, while he seeks vengeance from those who set him up.

Refn's films (or the one's I've seen so far) seem to lean towards the stylized, and Drive is no different. It's obvious that Refn is drawing heavily from late 70's and, especially 80's cinema, with his anti-music video style editing and electro-pop soundtrack. Drive feels like it could have been made by Michael Mann, circa Miami Vice or Manhunter. Gosling is in top notch acting form. He barely say's anything throughout the entire film, yet manages to convey an endless array of emotions via his face, a trait, I think, is generally only shared by some of the best actors. For someone to carry a whole movie, and barely speak, that's talent. Carrey Mulligan is the same, though, like pretty much all of the other characters, she is in a relatively small amount of the film.

In fact, that was probably the most surprising thing about Drive was how all of the other characters come off as secondary, and their importance, at times, seems diminished because of lack of screen time, even though characters like Irene and Bernie Rose (a gangster played by Albert Brooks in a very interesting casting choice by Refn), are absolutely crucial to the film. Drive really is about Gosling's driver. The entire film is about this one moment in HIS life, and Refn seems to want to make sure that we are not cluttered with back story or parallel action. There are very few scenes without Gosling, and only enough to push the plot forward. A risk taken on Refn's part, I think, but one I think he succeeded at, because, as an audience member, I was with the driver all the way. I was the driver.

Blue Valentine

Derek Cianfrance's Blue Valentine courted a lot of controversy when it was making the film festival rounds, and was looking at a possible NC-17 rating for graphic sexual content. Cianfrance made cuts and ended up with an R, but not before winning numerous awards for the story of two people falling in love and, eventually, falling back out of love.

Ryan Gosling plays Dean, a Brooklyn furniture mover who meets Cindy (Michelle Williams), when he has to deliver an elderly mans furniture to the same rest home that Cindy's grandmother lives in. Dean falls in love at first sight, and the courting begins. As time goes on, though, there relationship begins to show evidence of the wear and tear of time.

Blue Valentine is shown in a non-linear fashion. We start off with Dean and Cindy when they've already been married for several years, and flash back and forth to them as a young couple meeting and falling in love for the first time to their love dissolving before our very eyes. Gosling and Williams love and hate each other with such passion in this movie, you would think they must have plumbed the depths of their past relationships that have dissolved (Gosling was in a long term relationship with Rachel McAdams and Williams was partners with Heath Ledger, though they broke it off before his death). Absolutely every emotion feels genuine, which makes it all the more devastating when their love turns poisonous. The films cinematography sticks in close with its characters, using close ups most of the time, which gives the audience an almost uncomfortable feeling of being right there when everything happens.

The only thing that confused me is why Cindy hated Dean so much. He never really seemed to do anything horrible, or, at least, it wasn't expressed that he did. He could be child like (not childish, which is different), but that's part of what she fell in love with in the first place, so it's confusing that she so completely hates him by the end of the film.

Barring that, though, this film was one of the most beautiful, well acted, and devastating pieces of work I have seen in a long time. If Gosling and Williams don't rack up nominations and awards for this, people don't have their eyes open. Many people won't see this film because it's "depressing", but the thing that I love about cinema is how it can bring to life, on a massive scale, the basic human problems we all face, and give us hope and conciliation and make us feel like we are not alone. That's what Blue Valentine does - For anyone who has had a relationship that started off good and went bad, for anyone who has loved someone who didn't love them back, for anyone who has fought hard to keep the things they've built, but the other person won't fight too, this film is like a best friend giving you a hug and telling you it's okay to feel the way you do.