Monday, March 13, 2023

Doraibu mai kâ / Drive My Car (2021)

An actor who lost his wife is hired to direct a production of Uncle Vania in a location where he is assigned a driver.

'Drive My Car' is a successful film based on a story by Haruki Murakami. It has a slow development, which will not be to the liking of many, despite the admirable cinematography (something that cannot support an entire film by itself), uses a lot of symbolism and lasts 3 hours. It is built around a multitude of feelings such as regret caused by the lack of communication despite a common front, and regret, regret and .. grief, as well as an interesting contrast of that to the case where two completely different people (the 2 main characters) manage to communicate and understand each other almost effortlessly. The parallel with staging the theatre play with a mixture of individuals who do not understand each other (some speak only Japanese, some only Korean, others only sign language) and which manages to be an almost harmonious success is again interesting.

Director:  Ryûsuke Hamaguchi   
With: Hidetoshi Nishijima, Tôko Miura, Reika Kirishima, Masaki Okada

Rating: 8/10

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