Refn frames his protagonist against wide, empty streets (Whittier Boulevard, the 101 freeway). The Open Matte ratio amplifies the loneliness: he is dwarfed by the city, not liberated by it. Freedom is an illusion. The “open” frame is actually a prison of concrete and glass. The “DD 5.1” audio specification is equally crucial. Drive is famous for its contrasting soundscape: long stretches of near-silence (only the hum of an engine, the buzz of a fluorescent light) followed by explosive, hyperreal violence.
Consider the opening sequence: the Driver (Ryan Gosling) waits in his Chevy Malibu inside a hotel parking garage. In widescreen, the shot emphasizes the length of the garage—a tunnel to escape. In Open Matte, we see more of the concrete ceiling and floor, pressing down on the car. The extra vertical space ironically encloses him. Later, when he drives through Los Angeles at night, the Open Matte frame captures more of the empty sky above the freeway overpasses. LA becomes a cavernous, indifferent maze. The Driver is not a heroic outlaw on an open road; he is a tiny figure inside a vast, silent machine. Drive 2011 1080p Open Matte BluRay DD 5 1 H 265...
Drive is not a car chase movie. It is a film about a man who can only feel alive when he is moving at lethal speed. The rest of the time, even in “Open Matte,” he is just waiting for the exit. Refn frames his protagonist against wide, empty streets