Art and life are shown to be interchangeable in “Drive My Car,” and time affects how we see both.‘The Humans’ Film Review: Cast Shines in Moody Adaptation of Pulitzer-Winning Family Drama
Drive my car movie#
Even if “Drive My Car” isn’t a movie you analyze, you surely will be absorbed.īut there’s a touch of whimsy to it all, a cheekiness that stretches from a humorously curated soundscape to the way the screenplay matches its cruise-control speed.
An attentive movie-watcher will find themselves closely studying the characters of this movie the looks they trade when conversations take confessional turns, the hints of reaction when a revelation is reached, the slow chipping away of formality to yield unexpected understanding underneath. “Drive My Car” is essentially a character study of the most forthright kind. We must keep living, Chekhov’s characters tell us. The movie also weaves in scenes from Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” to illustrate its point that surviving grief, taking time to listen and embracing those we love are the only viable choices in life. The film wrestles emotionally with our shared experience of grief and loss - how those experiences can destroy or transform. This Japanese film, based on a short story published in The New Yorker, has quite a bit for viewers to ruminate upon if they can slow their minds down, read through all the many English subtitles and forget about the clock. In spite of its title, “Drive My Car” is far from driving. And as time and events unfold, it begins to seem like Misaki may well be very good for Yûsuke Kafuku, too. But in the end, he must live with this woman driving and being in his car.
Drive my car driver#
His assigned driver is a buttoned-up woman named Misaki (Toko Miura). When he arrives at the festival, however, the producers mandate that he has a chauffeur for liability reasons.
He even purposely chooses housing that’s an hour away from the Hiroshima festival just so he can spend time with Oto’s voice during the drive. But that same heart won’t let him stop replaying Oto’s tape.Īnd it just so happens that a festival event has hired Yûsuke for a two-month production of the very play that he can’t stop repeating: Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya.” So he drives and repeats. In fact, he still drives his little red Saab to productions playing a practice tape that Oto once created for him to help with his character’s dialogue memorization. Two years later, grief still consumes Yûsuke’s life. When Oto later dies unexpectedly from a brain hemorrhage, all Yûsuke has left is silence. He quickly walks away, distraught and unseen, but convinced that he should stay silent about what he saw. After a flight to a theater festival is unexpectedly delayed, Yûsuke returns home to find his wife having sex with a young actor from her television production. They come up with ideas for exotic stories together, narrating them out lushly in their post-coital moments.Īll is not perfect between them, however. They work well together in every way, even tying their creative process into a fervent sex life. Yûsuke is married to Oto (Reika Kirishima), a television writer who is herself a very respected creator. “Drive My Car” follows Yûsuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima), an accomplished actor and respected director known for his multilingual productions.
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