Daily Dialogue — April 11, 2015

“Whose money do I have?”

— Drive (2011), screenplay by Hossein Amini, book by James Sallis

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Interrogation.

Trivia: Driver references the fable of The Scorpion and the Frog: the frog agrees to carry the scorpion across the river; the scorpion stings the frog, saying “it’s my nature” and both drown. Driver can be seen as The Frog of the story — he drives/carries criminals (scorpions) around in his car, but is inevitably dragged into their destructive world (stung) leading to everybody’s downfall. Driver’s jacket has a scorpion on the back, just as the frog carried the scorpion on its back.

Dialogue On Dialogue: This movie is minimalist in terms of dialogue. Reportedly both Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan refused to say many of the lines in the script, preferring to focus on mood and atmosphere.