Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn’s new film Drive follows a mechanic/stunt driver by day, getaway driver by night (Ryan Gosling, who hand picked Refn to direct this adaptation of James Sallis’ 2005 novel of the same name) through the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles. After the Driver (the only name Gosling’s mysterious, quiet character is given) meets his lovely neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan) who’s raising her small son Benicio (Kaden Leos) while her husband is in prison, a love story develops between the three of them.
When Irene’s husband, Standard (Oscar Isaac) is released from prison, the Driver discovers that the family he’s come to love is in danger unless Standard pays off an outstanding and increasing debt. To that end, the Driver agrees to drive for Standard in a pawn shop heist. Complications of course arise, and the Driver is left with a duffel bag of cash, a family to protect, and some sinister members of the Los Angeles organized crime community hot on his trail.