Sunday, August 12, 2012

Visual Parallels: Drive + Taxi Driver

By s. Sunday, August 12, 2012
Back when Drive was first released in theathres and I was reading the reviews for it I noticed that not many people wrote about the obvious similarities it has to Taxi Driver - enigmatic character who drives his car, frequently during night, has deep issues and is prone to violence, lusts after beautiful blonde and meets a hooker who is in trouble. Both films are not only similar in terms of the story and the protagonist, but they also have many very similar shots and both end in the eruption of violence followed by quiet and memorable ending.

52 comments:

  1. Wow, really cleverly done! I've seen both films multiple times and definitely picked up on the connection but it's awesome to see it proven with these images. Great stuff!

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    1. Thank you! It was so much fun finding those.

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  2. That is fucking great. Wonder if these are supposed to be very similar or not. Regardless both are badass and original. I also like how your reviews now look btw.

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    1. Thanks, glad you liked it! I think Refn was definetly influenced by Taxi Driver.

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  3. I bet Drive did get some inspiration.. I mean, it is difficult not to be inspired by something and even more difficult to be not inspired by such as the Taxi Driver.

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    1. Exactly, I think this is the movie every movie fan knows and loves.

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  4. I knew both films carry similar images as I believe Drive was partially influenced by Taxi Driver. Great job as usual.

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    1. Thank you! Yeah all those shots of protagonist driving into the night really put me on track here and made me look for more similiarities.

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  5. I've been looking forward to this one since you announced it, and it didn't disappoint! Really liked the night scenes in the car, I did think often of Taxi Driver when they appeared. Especially the intro, of course. It is interesting how Drive and Taxi Driver have such similar shots, whether intentionally or not, as Trevor said. Another great one, Sati.

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    1. The night scenes in the car were so gorgeous and really atmospheric. It was really fun finding those and it's even cooler both main ladies are blondes and both girls involved in violence are prostitues, so many similarities in those two and not just visual. Thank you!

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  6. Wow! These films really are similar. I'll have to rewatch them. The bloody shoe/bloody hand shots and the hammer/gun ones are so cool. Terrific post, as always!

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    1. Thank you! Saw them one after another few days ago and they are both still great. Taxi Driver is better but it doesn't have Drive's atmosphere.

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  7. This might be my most favourite post by you ever. I love, like really really love both of these films. Drive was so reminiscent of Taxi Driver, but still very much its own film. Taxi Driver is just fucking awesome.

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    1. Wow, thank you, glad you enjoyed it so much! I love both of those two,, they aren't my very favorire movies but they would probably find their way into my updated top 100.

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  8. Wow, some of these comparisons are awesome!!

    I didn't really like Taxi Driver (eeep) but I think for sure there were a lot of things taken from it for Drive. I particularly like the diner scene, blood on shoe/hand, car scenes and shots from behind comparisons you've pointed out!

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    1. It's very influential movie for sure and yeah, those seems to be things that really got picked up by Refn, maybe even unintentionally. When you have a guy who is driving the best way to show it is during the night :)

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  9. Uu, I'v been waiting for this a long time, it looks amazing! Thanks Sati for all the hard work, love it!

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  10. I really need to see Taxi Driver as I loooooved Drive.

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  11. Amazing post, I was just thinking the other day about the similarities that these films share. Excellent use of images

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    1. Thank you! It was so cool looking at screencaps and seeing how similiar they are.

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  12. WOW, this is amazingly uncanny! I LOVE your visual parallels post, can't wait to see which movies you'll choose to do next.

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    1. I figured out what they are going to be today, i think the post will have even more images that this one ^^

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  13. I didn't even think of visual parallels when I saw Drive, I was more into how similar Travis Bickle and 'The Driver' are, but you are right, well done!

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    1. Thank you! Yes, they are very similiar and quite enigmatic though we know a bit more about Travis than we do about the Driver.

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  14. Goodness. This is awesome. I think my favorite is the shots where the camera is trailing them. Scorpion jacket and mohawk in full effect.

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    1. Thank you! Yeah, loved the one where the camera is behind them, added so much tension to the scene.

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  15. I thought of it, but you're amazing Sati. Wow.

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  16. You're too good with this. I would never notice all these similarities! Great job once again, Sati! :)

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    1. Thank you! Glad the series has so many fans it's a lot of work but it's really fun.

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  17. Nice!!

    I would have chosen Drive and Thief myself, those two are almost identical in style. But this is brilliant... Have some LOVE!!

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    1. I never saw Thief but I'll try! Sometimes it's the decision time - when I was doing Black Swan in the series it was hard choosing between Shame, Repulsion and Mulholland Dr

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  18. Excellent! Did Ryan Gosling wore Robert De Niro's mask there? Ha2. Very nice, Sati!

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    1. Haha, I'm sure he would love that :) Thanks!

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  19. Excellent post Sati. Just excellent. I often entertained the idea but the similarities go further than I ever thought. It's brilliantly put together. Bravo miss.

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    1. Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it! I hope next month's edition will have fans too.

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  20. Until I read this I'd never have linked these films together in any way! Awesome work, Sati, once more you've outdone yourself. I'm gonna have to rewatch Taxi Driver again to see for myself - not that I don't believe you, but I just can't remember the intricate details of TD like I can Drive....

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    1. Thank you! Yeah, I actually had to rewatch Taxi Driver too to pick up on everything, but rewatching such a fine film is always time well spent.

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  21. Was waiting for your next one in this series - really LOVE this series of blogs so much!

    I haven't seen Taxi Driver (shame on me!) but love the visual parallels here, amazing work as per usual!

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  22. My favorite film of all time visually linked to one of the best movies of our time. You've done it again, Sati.

    Goddamn well done.

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    1. Thank you! I had a feeling you will like it :)

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  23. BRILLIANT. This is your best one yet. Nicely done, Sati.

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    1. Thank you, it will probably be hard to top this one seeing how much everyone loves Drive :)

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  24. hey, this is fantastic. I actually wrote a term paper with the similarities within the sounds and mise-en-scene space of Drive and Taxi Driver to bring out the tone of loneliness, so this is really cool. if you'd like to read it just hit me up at jobrady23@aol.com

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    1. Thank you! That's sounds really interesting, I'll write to you later tonight.

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  25. Mind= blown. Awesome feature you have and I'll definitely be checking all your other ones. Just so you know, your Author link and a couple others in your menu don't link to anything. I wanted to know more about you! lol

    Keep up the blog! It's sexy

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    1. Thank you! Yeah, some pages are still under construction as the regular features already take a lot of my time :) But the only one left to do is Reviews Index so I'm almost done.

      Sexy you say? Well, thank you! :)

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