http://occupiedterritories.tumblr.com/post/10424020463/masochism-sadism-and-the-perverse-pleasure-of-the

A summary: Nicolas Winding Refn loves masochism. He himself has admitted to being a \”fetish director,\” which is to say things find their way into his films because they appeal to him in one way or another. One of the most fascinating themes in his career is masochism and the way his characters deal with it, Ryan Gosling\’s Driver being the most recent and obvious masochist. Drive is best understood through this lens rather than the usual \”Gosling is a sociopath\” reductive nonsense. In fact, though the essay only looks at Drive, it can be applied to almost any of his features in one way or another, particularly in relation to that quote about his characters needing to suffer to reach what they want.

Further food for thought: I also found the narrative rejection of Christina Hendricks\’ Blanche significant, as there seems to be a (rather odd) move in Drive (and independent American cinema in general) away from the overtly sexy and feminine and toward a more androgynous and somewhat desexualized conception of female beauty, that beauty seemingly linked with a pre-sexual conception of the phallic woman/punishing mother as outlined in the essay.

Nicolas Winding Refn\’s filmography is interesting but unwieldy and incomplete so far. He has some coherent ideas and is learning to process them admirably, but he\’s still a long way from top auteur status. He is a boy on the way to manhood both psychologically and artistically, much like his generally infantile male protagonists. Now it\’s up to us to wait and see if/when he gets there.