Capital Celluloid 2013 - Day 9: Wed Jan 9

Drive (Winding Refn, 2011): Kensington Roof Gardens, 7pm

The Rooftop Film Club is back to showcase classic, cult and recent films in their exclusive marquee situated 100ft above Kensington High Street tucked away in the tranquil setting of 1.5 acres of themed gardens. Tickets include a glass of champagne or Peroni (soft drinks available) and a freshly prepared hot snack of cheeseburger or Cumberland hotdog (a vegetarian option will be available) grilled on the outdoor coal fire barbecue. All the screenings are indoors in a heated marquee in The Tudor Garden area of the Kensington Roof Gardens. More details of how to get there are here. And all the details of their movies screening from Mon 7th to Thursday 10th January are here.

Time Out review:
'The truly great ‘LA noir’ movies – ‘Point Blank’, ‘The Driver’, ‘Straight Time’, ‘To Live and Die in LA’, ‘Heat’ – share common characteristics beyond the basic clichés of the crime genre. These are movies informed by the city in which they were made, a city constructed of gleaming surfaces – six-lane highways, vast industrial wastelands and endless suburban sprawl – and a place where crime is grubby and small-time, carried out by empty, hopeless loners in hock to dapper despots with unpredictable personalities. It’s in this world that we find the near-silent hero of ‘Drive’, Nicolas Winding Refn’s self-consciously slick, synth-scored throwback. Ryan Gosling plays the unnamed Driver, a mechanic and occasional getaway guy whose life is overturned when he meets Irene (Carey Mulligan), a struggling mum with a husband in the joint. As all the above implies, this is a film built on familiarity, in terms of narrative and style: neon lights flash, rubber tyres screech, Gosling broods, Mulligan swoons and a trio of wisecracking, overdressed character actors – Albert Brooks, Ron Perlman and Bryan Cranston – provide both levity and dramatic weight. But ‘Drive’ never drags: this is an entirely welcome riff on old material, a pulse-pounding, electronically enhanced cover version of a beloved standard. Sure, it’s shallow, but it’s also slickly compelling, beautifully crafted and so damn shiny.'
Tom Huddleston


Here is the trailer.

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