Drive

Story: Han Yu-na (Park Ju-hyun) tries to be a streamer and influencer. Her first videos still lack direction, but soon enough, she's built up a steadily growing viewership thanks to the story of her father taking his own life and a livestream mistake when she cooked and didn't actually end the stream before spitting out her failed meal again. Some time later, she has hundreds of thousands of subscribers and is well paid by companies for reviewing/advertising their products. At the moment she is still represented by her old producer (Choi Yoon-seok), but when she is supposed to do her live stream at a party of a cosmetics company and is then deceived because her rival eventually gets the contract, she decides to look for a new producer at the competitor MBS. Exhausted, she gets into the car in the parking lot and falls asleep. When she wakes up again, she finds herself tied up in the trunk of her car. She is able to loosen her bonds and realizes that the car is moving. Then a cell phone rings, and her kidnapper tells her that he wants a million dollars, otherwise he will ditch her in a car crusher at a junkyard where no one asks any questions. Yu-na does not have that kind of money, but the kidnapper suggests that she takes her cell phone and earns the missing amount via live stream within an hour. Yu-na has no choice but to follow the demand, but at the same time she also needs to try and inform the police about her situation.

Review: After several movies in a row from South Korea revolving around the topic of influencers, "Drive" now almost seems a bit too much of a good thing. Of course, it's again the illusory world of streamers and social media professionals which serves as a hook for a supposedly gripping thriller. In addition, we get a rather typical plot of a kidnapping in a trunk as a foundation. Only that, this time, the kidnapped person has to free herself from the unpleasant situation using her cell phone and her streaming viewers. And with its running time of just 90 minutes and its fast pacing, the thriller seems to tick all the right boxes to be captivating. The only problem is that, even though the movie is well-crafted and always adds a new twist at exactly the right moment, it confronts us with a protagonist for whom it is hard to root. The reason for this is that she is introduced right at the beginning as a rather cunning influencer who not only boots out others, but even deceives them, as long as it benefits her own agenda and brand.

On the positive side you could of course say that Yu-na knows very well what she wants and how she can get it. At that, manipulation does not pose a moral problem for her. As the movie progresses, the kidnapper wants her to show her viewers her true self. Naturally, it immediately becomes clear that Yu-na must have done something in the past that caused the kidnapper to hate her so much. Revealing what exactly that is, obviously takes its time. How much power influencers with a huge reach have should be clear these days, and also what damage they can do within their bubble and beyond that. So, how are we supposed to sympathize with Yu-na when she is shown to be insensitive and cold right from the getgo and when it's also suggested that she has harmed someone immensely? Park Ju-hyun ("Extracurricular") does a pretty decent job, but since the script does not know in which direction to go with Yu-na, she can't do wonders either. We always have a certain emotional distance to her, because she also embodies the shady aspects of being an influencer.

You might also think that the narrow space of the trunk would create a certain feeling of claustrophobia. But since we are also constantly outside of this minimal space, for example when it comes to the police investigations, and because the trunk sometimes seems ridiculously large, we don't feel any horror stemming from anxiety here. In addition, you can always find something new in the trunk, which somehow drives the story forward. Oftentimes, this gets involuntarily funny. At some point, you have to ask yourself how Yu-na could be locked in the trunk for such a long time and still not know her surroundings in and out. Then there is her long-time producer, whom she betrays by signing a contract with someone else behind his back. Eventually, we come to a point when we start sympathizing with the kidnapper instead. The only problem here is that we don't know anything about him, and a later twist only does more harm than it actually does good. Suddenly, another person is in the foreground, even though the attentive viewer might have already known that this would be the case in the end.

By the way, the police are soon involved in the case too, as the movie somehow wants to avoid the worst plot holes (why doesn't she call the police, why can't she free herself from the trunk etc.). However, it doesn't take long for them to stop believing that this is actually a real case. It is often played with the fact that Yu-na only staged the whole thing to set up a particularly successful stream and make a lot of money. She would be capable of doing that, as we also find out from various sides. Kim Yeo-jin ("Vegetarian") plays the policewoman who is the only one believing the streamer. Ultimately, this leads to a few gripping scenes and even a rather action-packed scene in which the car is driving in reverse on the highway. But you shouldn't expect too much action either. The movie can be quite captivating when you are willing to come to terms with the story and some of the rather stupid circumstances that make it possible for the plot to go forward in the first place.

Nonetheless, there are a few nice aspects too. The viewers have power over Yu-na, and the constant pressure that the kidnapper puts her under makes Yu-na ask herself to what extent she is willing to sell herself in order to get what she wants. This works on two levels since the viewers of the stream don't know if Yu-na is just putting on a show or if it is a real kidnapping. In turn, the protagonist has to ask herself whether everything that put her into this situation was actually worth it, and she has to question her moral compass as well as her degree of humanity. As was already the case with "Following", for instance, this merely touches philosophical and existential questions, only for the movie to then move right past them. In the end, "Drive" is just supposed to be a gripping thriller. Even though the story was brought into the 21st century with the influencer aspect, it is sometimes amazing how much it reminds you of classic thrillers of this kind. So, if you're looking for an entertaining thriller and you don't have any problems with being a little bit disappointed in the end, you will get some fun out of this picture.

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