179 mins |
Rated
M (Nudity & sex scenes)
Winner BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM at the 2022 Oscars... Adapted from the short story by Haruki Murakami, Japanese filmmaker Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s profoundly moving, poetic vision of grief and the deep mysteries of the human spirit is the Cannes 2021 winner for Best Screenplay.
Veteran stage actor turner director Yūsuke Kafuku, a grief-stricken lost soul floating through life in the wake of a betrayal and terrible tragedy, drives his vivid crimson Saab Turbo to Hiroshima to direct an experimental version of Chekhov’s On Arrival. He is assigned a chauffeur by the theatre company as he is forbidden from driving while under contract. He soon develops a bond with the mysterious and sullen Watari – who harbours dark secrets of her own – as she shuttles him around the city.
Though there is seemingly little in the way of event in Japanese filmmaker’s Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s three-hour opus, the time flies by as smoothly as the gentle neon landscapes out the window of Kafuku’s vehicle.
Adapted from Haruki Murakami’s short story, the film gradually reveals the intricacies of its characters’ identities with the care and texture of a master weaver, while still retaining an essential element of unknowability between us and the characters, and between the characters themselves. How does one love when one cannot know another person in their entirety? How can one make peace with the hidden truths of a person now lost to the grave? Under the watchful eye of Hamaguchi’s remarkable direction, these questions are interrogated in the subtle interplay between its wayward spirits, building to a gently revelatory climax. — Tom Augustine..
- Festival de Cannes 2021 Award Winner - Best Screenplay -
- BAFTA WINNER: Best Film Not In The English Language -
★★★★★ "A warm, witty and achingly compassionate five-star drama” - Stuff
★★★★★ "A profoundly beautiful film." - Daily Telegraph (UK)
★★★★★ "It is an engrossing and exalting experience." - The Guardian
★★★★★ "It feels as expansive as the whole world.: - Washington Post
★★★★★ "It's beautiful in every conceivable way." - San Jose Mercury News
★★★★★ " Drive My Car is one of 2021's best films"- MovieFreak.com
★★★★★ "...vehicular poetry of the sorrow from which we run, the collisions that awaken us, and the healing gained from every bump in the road." - Rogerebert.com
★★★★★ "One of the year’s finest films, set at ‘Uncle Vanya’ rehearsals and behind the wheel of a Saab." - Chicago Tribune
★★★★★ "Head-spinning in its psychological scope and dramatic sweep." - Little White Lies
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Winner BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM at the 2022 Oscars... Adapted from the short story by Haruki Murakami, Japanese filmmaker Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s profoundly moving, poetic vision of grief and the deep mysteries of the human spirit is the Cannes 2021 winner for Best Screenplay.
Veteran stage actor turner director Yūsuke Kafuku, a grief-stricken lost soul floating through life in the wake of a betrayal and terrible tragedy, drives his vivid crimson Saab Turbo to Hiroshima to direct an experimental version of Chekhov’s On Arrival. He is assigned a chauffeur by the theatre company as he is forbidden from driving while under contract. He soon develops a bond with the mysterious and sullen Watari – who harbours dark secrets of her own – as she shuttles him around the city.
Though there is seemingly little in the way of event in Japanese filmmaker’s Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s three-hour opus, the time flies by as smoothly as the gentle neon landscapes out the window of Kafuku’s vehicle.
Adapted from Haruki Murakami’s short story, the film gradually reveals the intricacies of its characters’ identities with the care and texture of a master weaver, while still retaining an essential element of unknowability between us and the characters, and between the characters themselves. How does one love when one cannot know another person in their entirety? How can one make peace with the hidden truths of a person now lost to the grave? Under the watchful eye of Hamaguchi’s remarkable direction, these questions are interrogated in the subtle interplay between its wayward spirits, building to a gently revelatory climax. — Tom Augustine..
- Festival de Cannes 2021 Award Winner - Best Screenplay -
- BAFTA WINNER: Best Film Not In The English Language -
★★★★★ "A warm, witty and achingly compassionate five-star drama” - Stuff
★★★★★ "A profoundly beautiful film." - Daily Telegraph (UK)
★★★★★ "It is an engrossing and exalting experience." - The Guardian
★★★★★ "It feels as expansive as the whole world.: - Washington Post
★★★★★ "It's beautiful in every conceivable way." - San Jose Mercury News
★★★★★ " Drive My Car is one of 2021's best films"- MovieFreak.com
★★★★★ "...vehicular poetry of the sorrow from which we run, the collisions that awaken us, and the healing gained from every bump in the road." - Rogerebert.com
★★★★★ "One of the year’s finest films, set at ‘Uncle Vanya’ rehearsals and behind the wheel of a Saab." - Chicago Tribune
★★★★★ "Head-spinning in its psychological scope and dramatic sweep." - Little White Lies