"Drive my car" Film review
"Drive my car" Film review
Ryusuke Hamaguchi's Drive my car is an engrossing tale of love, grief and acceptance. Adapted from the novel of the same name by Haruki Murakami, it is a modern classic. The movie is a slow burn with a run time of three hours and it pays off well. Ryusuke Hamaguchi's style of directing is distinct in the way that he tries to depict every scene as close to reality as possible. ‘Drive my car’ is a character driven movie and its strength lies in its writing. The movie took the art house by a storm as it has been receiving praise and accolades from everywhere. It won the Cannes Film Festival award for best screenplay and has been nominated for four Academy awards. It is the first Japanese film to be nominated for best picture.
Drive my car is a story about a renowned stage actor and director Yūsuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima) who has a complex relationship with his wife Oto, (played by Reika kirishima) a screenwriter herself. During post coital calm they build fictious story for her screenplays. After two years, still grappling with grief of his personal tragedy and unresolved resentment, Kafuka gets an invitation to direct a multilingual adaptation of Anton Chekov's ‘Uncle Vanya’. There, he meets Misaki Watari (Toko Miura) an introverted and reserved girl who is assigned by the theatre to drive his beloved Saab 900. During the silence in the moving car, Oto's voice breaks through the speakers via tapes feeding Kafuka lines for ‘Uncle Vanya’. During the production of the play, Kafuka casts Koji Takatsuki (played by Maski Okada) with whom he has an unlikely connection. As the production continues Kafuka and Misaki strike an unlikely bond as both are haunted by their past. As truths and harsh realities come forward Kafuka with the help of Misaki, who herself is running from her guilt, begins to confess and converse about their grief as they try to accept and be at peace with themselves. The moving space of the Saab provides a perfect environment for their intimate conversations.
As a grief stricken husband and father Nishimjima is brilliant. Being a stoic he never lets the viewer decipher what's going on inside. He always masks it in a disguise. It is an unassumingly shattering display of grief and numbness. As someone who wants to be unnoticed and is reserved, Muira does an excellent job. She perfectly portrays a girl who is running from her past and is full of guilt.
The subtle imagery from the cinematographer Hidetoshi Shinomiya is very compelling. The film has majestic visual symbolism from ordinary occurrences. The conversation in the car while focusing on the faces of the characters adds more depth to the story as they talk and listen without the embellishments of the other.
While most movies fail, ‘Drive my car’ fires on all cylinders as it perfectly tells a story within a story that is the adaptation of ‘Uncle Vanya’. The movie combines classic literature with contemporary literature. Chekhov's characters are an extension of what the characters in the movie are going through. A line from the play "What shall I do with life and love?" recited by Kafuka is an insight into the plight of his inner life. The play fully encapsulates the feelings and the theme of the movie.
While dealing with the subject of past events that affect the characters, most films rely on flashbacks but ‘Drive my car’ does not contain any flashbacks. This coincides with the theme of what is ahead and not in the past gone by, as the characters of the movie try to understand what happened in the past and who they are now because of that. The movie relies heavily on the spoken word even for the Japanese. ‘Drive my car’ is an essential viewing and an epic.
Written By
Malik Ehsan Ul-haq
Ryusuke Hamaguchi's Drive my car is an engrossing tale of love, grief and acceptance. Adapted from the novel of the same name by Haruki Murakami, it is a modern classic. The movie is a slow burn with a run time of three hours and it pays off well. Ryusuke Hamaguchi's style of directing is distinct in the way that he tries to depict every scene as close to reality as possible. ‘Drive my car’ is a character driven movie and its strength lies in its writing. The movie took the art house by a storm as it has been receiving praise and accolades from everywhere. It won the Cannes Film Festival award for best screenplay and has been nominated for four Academy awards. It is the first Japanese film to be nominated for best picture.
Drive my car is a story about a renowned stage actor and director Yūsuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima) who has a complex relationship with his wife Oto, (played by Reika kirishima) a screenwriter herself. During post coital calm they build fictious story for her screenplays. After two years, still grappling with grief of his personal tragedy and unresolved resentment, Kafuka gets an invitation to direct a multilingual adaptation of Anton Chekov's ‘Uncle Vanya’. There, he meets Misaki Watari (Toko Miura) an introverted and reserved girl who is assigned by the theatre to drive his beloved Saab 900. During the silence in the moving car, Oto's voice breaks through the speakers via tapes feeding Kafuka lines for ‘Uncle Vanya’. During the production of the play, Kafuka casts Koji Takatsuki (played by Maski Okada) with whom he has an unlikely connection. As the production continues Kafuka and Misaki strike an unlikely bond as both are haunted by their past. As truths and harsh realities come forward Kafuka with the help of Misaki, who herself is running from her guilt, begins to confess and converse about their grief as they try to accept and be at peace with themselves. The moving space of the Saab provides a perfect environment for their intimate conversations.
As a grief stricken husband and father Nishimjima is brilliant. Being a stoic he never lets the viewer decipher what's going on inside. He always masks it in a disguise. It is an unassumingly shattering display of grief and numbness. As someone who wants to be unnoticed and is reserved, Muira does an excellent job. She perfectly portrays a girl who is running from her past and is full of guilt.
The subtle imagery from the cinematographer Hidetoshi Shinomiya is very compelling. The film has majestic visual symbolism from ordinary occurrences. The conversation in the car while focusing on the faces of the characters adds more depth to the story as they talk and listen without the embellishments of the other.
While most movies fail, ‘Drive my car’ fires on all cylinders as it perfectly tells a story within a story that is the adaptation of ‘Uncle Vanya’. The movie combines classic literature with contemporary literature. Chekhov's characters are an extension of what the characters in the movie are going through. A line from the play "What shall I do with life and love?" recited by Kafuka is an insight into the plight of his inner life. The play fully encapsulates the feelings and the theme of the movie.
While dealing with the subject of past events that affect the characters, most films rely on flashbacks but ‘Drive my car’ does not contain any flashbacks. This coincides with the theme of what is ahead and not in the past gone by, as the characters of the movie try to understand what happened in the past and who they are now because of that. The movie relies heavily on the spoken word even for the Japanese. ‘Drive my car’ is an essential viewing and an epic.
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