Wash It Off
During the 2012 Sundance Film Festival I noticed at least two films (Red Lights, Black Rock) in which a protagonist who’s recently been in an ultra-violent altercation walks around in public view with dried blood on his/her face. (I think at least one other Sundance film went in for this.) This is similar to Ryan Gosling walking around during the final 25% of Drive with brownish blood stains on his white scorpion jacket.
This is a bullshit affectation favored by wanna-be-cool directors, and I’m saying right now to Nicholas Winding Refn and all the others that it ends here and now. Nobody in the actual world ever walks around with globs of dried blood on their person. It would be like walking the streets with a big sandwich-board ad that says “HAVE JUST BEEN IN VIOLENT ALTERCATION” and “LOOKING AROUND FOR NEXT PERSON TO HIT OR SHOOT.” It would obviously attract attention, especially from the law, and anyone who’s just beaten up or killed somebody usually wants anything but that. Plus blood is unattractive and sticky, and I think there’s some kind of instinct that we’re all born with to wash it off as soon as possible.
Jeff, have you ever written a script or any other piece of fiction? Because I love your no-bullshit approach to film and I was wondering if you ever channeled it into long-form storytelling.
…but Driver is a psychjob.
You must not watch must TV, especially cop shows. This literally happens every night.
There was a deleted opening scene set during the height of the Rodney King riots where the latest foster parent told Driver as a boy, “The blood on the jacket stays.” Driver slashes the latest forster parent’s throat before being thrown into an institution, from which he escapes and lives on the streets until meeting Shannon.
People trend to notice when you’re walking around covered in brains and shit.
Have you not watched the end of “Pineapple Express”?
Reek, I think you mean that people tend to notice when you’re drenched in fucking blood.
Yeah. That. Really long night.
Actually, he really wanted to clean the scorpion jacket. He just couldn’t DRIVE fast enough to get to the cleaners before the stain set.
Reason number 854 why Drive is a silly, goofy little movie.
Drive is a fucking fairy tale and a comedy. Of course its an affectation. It’s meant to be funny, representative of the character’s state of mind, and visually striking.
Goddamn, I’m glad you killjoys aren’t writing movies.
Bullshit affectations are the bread and butter of stylish psych-thrillers like Drive and (presumably) Black Rock.
You literalists are all so depressingly mundane and self-righteous. That goes double for you, Jeff.
DoucheGray returns with more hate for Drive.
Drive was the best movie of the year. End of discussion.
And everything Joshsleeps said was correct.
Thought Drive was great, but the way people online (and I know they’re all white) are exalting it, is highly annoying.
Hate to admit it but I’m with Duluoz on this one.
In MARGARET Anna Paquin wanders home from a bloody accident and a subsequent stop at a NYC police station with a seriously messed-up shirt. You’d think the cops would give her something to put over it, but perhaps not. I’m not sure how these things work in the real world.
“Thought Drive was great, but the way people online (and I know they’re all white) are exalting it, is highly annoying.”
Jeez, one person does a “Hitler Reacts to Drive Not Getting a Best Picture Nomination” video and the cat pops right out of the bag for the Human Race Detector here…thanks a lot YouTube!
I thought all the white people were supposed to get behind The Tree of Life? Am I getting the wrong newsletter now?
Sorry, I meant to say “Human Genographic Project Q-Tip”.
I once shared a cell with a guy who got arrested because he came to the police station to report his wife missing while wearing blue jeans and shoes stained with blood.
The cops noticed the stains, arrested him, went to his house and found small traces of blood. He’d cleaned the house, but had forgotten to change his pants. Man, he was pissed.
By the way, they found the body in a steel drum buried in the woods.
I once had a bad nosebleed in public and had to walk home looking like Bruce Willis in Pulp Fiction.
In real life, there’s a somewhat vaguely cinematically powerful feeling to having blood on you. But it depends on the context. If you really did kill someone, you wipe that crap off.
I’ve been in a holding cell with a fourteen year old who was covered in blood and had just been shot in the leg. Aside from some blankets and a makeshift crutch, the cops did nothing to clean him up or get pressing medical attention. And while the smell was strong, I don’t think he even noticed the blood on his cheek, dripping from his mouth, covering his shirt in a Rorshach blot.
There’s sort of a shock that settles in when it comes to high adrenaline moments, and cleanliness isn’t even on the menu. I once stumbled around for three hours with a broken jaw, my face covered in blood, punch drunk and looking for an ambulance to flag down. The ONLY SINGLE feeling I had was numbness.
Best TV example of this, Jennifer Garner in Alias
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Wait…. movies aren’t a 1:1 representation of reality??
God damn! Next thing, you’ll be tellling me that advertising isn’t 100% accurate!
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