Film lovers in Quebec will finally have a chance to see this movie whose popularity has continued to grow since the beginning of award season. Observers think so driving my car It may be cited at the Academy Awards in categories other than those for Best International Film.
Posted on February 4th
In this impressively orchestrated drama, in which the theme of disappearance finds a fascinating echo in the theater of Anton Chekhov, director Ryosuke Hamaguchi (wheel of fortune and fantasy) delivers cinematic as accurate as the influencer, and is also grateful for a great visual bill.
It derives its source from a short story written by Haruki Murakami, Story driving my car It is based on the search for meaning in which Yusuke (Hidetoshi Nashijima, the wonderful), a theater actor and director experiencing the sudden and mysterious departure of his wife, a playwright with whom he spins perfect love, even if sometimes infidelities have been part of a couple’s journey.
So he accepts the invitation from a theater in Hiroshima to go there for a stay to show an international and multilingual version ofUncle Vanya, a play in which he could easily play the main character himself, which he nonetheless refuses to do. The actor he chose for the role is Japanese, but the cast also includes actors who speak Korean and English in addition to sign language.
The film’s title evokes the presence of a young driver, assigned to drive Yusuke on all of his trips, who, due to an insurance issue, refused to let the director drive himself. With this young woman, named Misaki (Toko Miura), the Forties will have long existential conversations on the road, aboard the SAAB 900 that Yusuke cares so much about, and which he holds like the apple of his eye.
Gorgeous intimate fresco
Nothing was really amazing during a three hour show, driving my car Grace traversed her from start to finish. The sensual first part of the film is dedicated to the relationship between Yusuke and Otto, his beloved wife (Rika Kirishima), which is so attention-grabbing that we forget the absence of the opening credits. This appears already after about forty minutes. The rest of the story will explore how Yusuke will have to deal with this unexpected disappearance, which is disturbing because it comes at a time when the couple has had to settle a serious matter, and thus will remain unresolved.
Photo provided by EYESTEELFILM
Hidetoshi Nishijima is the main title of driving my car (drive my car), a film by Ryosuke Hamaguchi.
The process of theatrical creation is of course part of Yusuke’s way of living his mourning, but also by tirelessly re-listening, morning and evening in the car, to a recording with all the lines of the play, the link will be with the driver he will trust throughout the days. By also focusing intently on the peripheral characters of this story – the actors in the play in particular – Ryûsuke Hamaguchi thus curates a fascinating and intimate mural, which takes time to unfold, to end with a very good, very well-controlled psychological study.
Winner of the Best Screenplay award at last year’s Cannes Film Festival (many festival-goers expected it to be at the top of the list), driving my car It is a film that emanates a gentle sadness accompanied by a sensitive and mature reflection on the depth of the feeling of love. Without a doubt, one of the most beautiful films we have seen in 2021.
driving my car Hits theaters in original version with French subtitles (under title drive my car) from February 7.
drama
driving my car (VF: drive my car)
Ryosuke Hamaguchi
With Hidetoshi Nishijima, Toko Miura and Reika Kirishima
2:59