Ryan Gosling plays a Hollywood stunt driver who is unnamed (and virtually mute, amidst a string of Gosling’s silent hulk roles). He strikes up a friendship with a neighbour at his Echo Park apartment complex, Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her son, Benicio (Kaden Leos). Irene’s baby daddy is in prison, and as our hulking hero soon discovers, said daddy owes money to mobsters. In addition to his stuntman duties, Gosling’s character also has a side business with auto shop owner Shannon (Bryan Cranston) providing getaway car service for crooks. Soon, Gosling’s character is lured into helping pull off a robbery to pay off the debt - and thus protect Irene. This atmospheric, tense feature film based on the James Sallis’s 2005 novel of the same name blends action and arthouse seamlessly, and was one of the most talked about films of the decade.

After making several highly regarded films in his native Denmark, director Nicolas Winding Refn gained widespread acclaim with this cult hit, which was nearly universally praised (and far less polarising than his follow up, Only God Forgives). It’s gripping, exciting, funny, intriguing and entertaining – disregard the lawsuit a viewer in Michigan filed because it didn’t have enough action. Cool cars, cool Gosling, cool theme song— Drive is one for all the hopeless dreamers out there who just know that with a sick enough jacket they could have it all.