Drive My Car

Fancy a 55min long Prologue? Look no further!

This surely is an unconventional movie, that combines the principles of acting, story structure and well written dialogue so well, that you at times forget, that you are NOT watching an acting masterclass.

This movie is not an easy watch, its 3h long and yes, you feel it, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. In my opinion, the movie could have cut out 30mins, but the length is used as a storytelling device as well and the movie takes its time to flash out its characters to make them 3-dimensional, which works very well for most of them.

For a movie that has no less than 7 languages in it and (as far as I can judge from the subs) well written dialogue, there is so much left unsaid and left in between the lines for you to interpret.

The weakness of this movie unfortunately is its ending, which didnt satisfy me in the way you would expect a 3h movie to wrap up, but this is just my opinion and you might feel different about it. The ride is certainly worth hopping on!

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi's adaptation of a short-story of the same name by Haruki Murakami is an extraordinary three-hour experience. Hamaguchi and co-writer Takamasa Oe not only expand upon the brief source material, but also dare to take on one of the great works of literature in Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, weaving it into the very fabric of their screenplay.

Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima in a beautifully modulated performance) is a Tokyo Theater Director and Actor who travels to Hiroshima to be in residency at a local theater group putting on a performance of Uncle Vanya. The production is to be multi-lingual including Korean, Mandarin, Tagalog and even a sign language performer playing the role of Sonja (an angelic Yoo-rim Park). A dashing young actor from Kafuku's past, Koji (a suitably arrogant Masaki Okada), appears for the auditions to the Director's surprise.

One of the stipulations of the residency is that Kafuku is to have a driver at all times. She arrives in the form of the quiet and introspective Misaki (Toko Miura; guilelessly effective). Reluctant at first, Kafuku accepts her. Part of his method is that he likes to take long drives in his car while listening to a specially recorded audiotape of Uncle Vanya. It's during these trips where both the title comes from, but, also provides a basis for their relationship even though few words are exchanged between them.

While some knowledge of Chekhov's play may be helpful, Hamachuchi and Oe provide ample quotations and re-enactments of the crucial portions of the text for the uninitiated. Further, the film is far more than a clever parallel to the play. It takes its time to develop all of the relationships, developments and entanglements. The movie begins with a long prologue from two years prior with Kafuku and his wife Oto (a luminous, mysterious Reika Kirishima) - also a writer. It's over a half an hour before the credits roll, but the prelude's resonances reverberate throughout. The opening scene is scored by Eiko Ishibashi with a foreboding wail which is later echoed in a crucial sequence. The details always matter in Hamaguchi's direction - many of them unspoken.

Like a fine play, the earlier acts create the necessary build-up for the climax and resolution. The structure is like a mystery box, opening its secrets stage by stage. Even the last act is never rushed. Each scene, each nuance, carefully weighed and delivered. It's all brilliantly balanced by Director Hamachuchi and his cast. DRIVE MY CAR is well worth the journey.

"Drive My Car" is a slow moving story, but it glides effortlessly that you would not think it is too long or too slow. Events are unveiled eventually in good time. The characters draw you in as well.

A story about love, loss, grief, trauma, acceptance & healing that's rendered on screen with the care, attention & understanding it deserves, Drive My Car makes its 3-hour runtime feel insignificant by narrating a thoroughly engrossing drama that could only work if it is allowed to unravel at its own pace and makes for an emotionally crippling journey that benefits from sincere inputs from its cast.

Co-written & directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, the opening credits surface around the 40th minute mark coz that's when the main story actually begins but what its extended prologue does in the meantime is it silently acquaints us with our protagonist's emotional state, inner turmoil & abounding emptiness within, which in effect allows us to sympathise with him & his actions on a much deeper & more intimate level.

What's impressive about Hamaguchi's storytelling is that he gives ample breathing room to his characters and allows them to express themselves at their own comfort. Also, he makes those moments earned through the quiet spaces in between. The story shifts gear once the stage director & the young chauffeur assigned to him start interacting about their past lives and the nuanced tone of their performances makes it even more immersive.

Overall, Drive My Car never hurries through any of its motions and requires patience on the viewers' part but it is worth the effort, for the end result is rewarding & stimulating on more levels than one. Anchored by Hamaguchi's steady direction and strengthened by authentic work from its cast, this Japanese road drama isn't for all but for those who can relate to its emotional journey, the film will prove to be a profoundly personal & therapeutic experience.

Hamaguchi is an expert on dialogue: it feels vivid, provocative and thoughtful. He wants to make us think in life choices, relationships and how do we show what we really feel. "If" is the question mark always present that make us think about all the different ways and possibilities in life. How we treat the others. They way they see us and our actions. How do we want to be seen.

I would like to have love Drive My Car as much as most people. I think it is a good film, but just that. I think is way overlong - and you feel it -, I think that some plots are probably unnecessary and that it develops in a very predictable way. I also think it's not the best film of the director this year, even if it will stay with me for some time.