The Driver is hired by a nervous movie manager to spy on a paranoid actor's wife. During his tailing of the wife, the Driver describes the right way to tail someone. As he follows her he begins to fear what he might learn of her apparently tragic life. He discovers the wife is fleeing the country and returning to her mother's, and that she's been given a black eye, likely by her husband. He returns the money for the job, refusing to tell where the wife is, and drives off telling the manager never to call him again.
Reviews
In 2001 and 2002, BMW hired some of the world's greatest living directors and Guy Richie (who actually made one of the best of these shorts) to make eight short but very cinematic films. All of them featured a BMW as well as Clive Owen in the lead, but otherwise the directors and directors were apparently allowed to carry out their vision in making some truly outstanding films. This is the fourth of the series that I have seen and it's just amazing that the folks at BMW managed to get John Frankenheimer, John Woo, Ang Lee and others to make these films--as well as the acting talent they could assemble. In this particular film, Wong Kar Wai ("Chungking Express") directs and the film co-stars Forrest Whitaker and Mickey Rourke--all these in a genre that almost always features "newbies"!! This is the prettiest of the the shorts I've seen so far. The camera-work and especially the music are just wonderful--it's a real nice work of art. The problem, however, is that the story itself seems just too short--even for a short film. At about 8 minutes in length, I wish in hindsight they'd perhaps added another couple minutes, as the film just seemed incomplete. Interesting, yes, but incomplete. See it yourself and see if you agree with me--exceptionally artistic but missing something.By the way, it is interesting that although you assume Clive Owen is an assassin in "The Follow", this is never explicitly stated! In addition, in all the other shorts I've seen so far, he's been a heroic sort--here he's much more morally ambiguous. I wanted to know more about this--it seemed like an interesting idea.
I had to watch this film, the third short in the BMW series, several times before I appreciated how good it is. The spare dialogue is perfectly timed to bring out the pure visual lyricism of the film. Solid supporting cast including the always watchable Forrest Whitaker and Mickey Rourke--art imitates life.
I am not sure what the one thing is that attracts me so much to this film. The pacing, the montage, the editing. Whatever it is, I found myself drawn to it from the first 30 seconds. I found myself watching the opening over and over again.
excellent monologue, beautifully filmed, with great music. short and a perfect 10 from me. just flawless.i wish i can write more eloquently about it. wkw manages to develop the characters quite well and the story is complete. the other films are pretty good, but everyone else seems to agree this one stands out.