Drive My Car - Movie Review

Critics Score - 8 of 10

General Audience Score - 6 of 10

There are some people that treat their cars like trash cans, no judgement here, you can find more than one empty Starbucks plastic iced coffee container in mine. But then there are people that keep their cars immaculately clean, they wash and vacuum them out, change the oil before the recommended miles, rotate the tires and keep up with general maintenance. We meet one of the latter people in Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s new meditative film, Drive My Car. At just under three hours and in spoken Japanese, there’s a specific audience that will most likely be able to track with this film, it caters to cinephiles and critics. This film is incredibly layered, it’s difficult to get a read on everything that it’s doing the first time through. The screenplay is thoughtful and contemplative, the character relationships are dense, it’s the kind of film that almost demands a second viewing. Unfortunately for many audiences not terribly patient, the second viewing will never come. But for those that can manage it, the rewards are great, a really special film awaits with a full tank, so hop on in, take a spin and Drive My Car.

SYNOPSIS - We begin with two lovers in bed, post intimacy, Oto (Reika Kirishima) sits up and begins to extemporaneously tell her husband Yûsuke (Hidetoshi Nishijima) a story about a young woman who breaks into the home of a classmate she loves. The next morning we see Yûsuke drive Oto to work in his bright red Saab, a visual staple for the film, where she converts these impromptu stories into screenplays for a TV production studio. But later Yûsuke leaves to get on a flight which suddenly gets cancelled due to weather, he returns home to inexplicably find his wife having sex with an actor from her TV shows. He silently leaves, then stays in a hotel before leaving on the trip. A week later Yûsuke returns and they visit their daughters grave before going home and making love, where she picks up on the story of the young woman. The next day tragedy strikes the tumultuous lovers, without getting into spoilers here but needless to say, there’s a lot going on in this film. It might seem like I’m giving away huge plot points, but this is all first half hour stuff.

Once we’ve reached the end of the road, Drive My Car has opened up a huge window into the lives of these characters and a few more I haven’t mentioned. The relationships and their dynamics, their pain, grief and loss, it all becomes our own as we sit with them in their bath of mourning and let the waters of their solemn sorrow soak into us until we’ve pruned like raisins. The director, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, does an incredible job at dialing us into these individuals and the intricacies of their lives, and we spend so much time examining these characters, it’s hard to not be moved by it all at the finale. The performances are excellent, especially Nishijima, even though they’re more quiet and less dramatic than acting that garners awards praise. While this movie didn’t crack my top ten of the year, I’m convinced it will rise in my estimation of it upon repeat viewings, there’s just so much to uncover with Drive My Car.

SUMMARY - Getting a Best International Feature nomination at the 2021 Oscars was an incredible feat that only five films get to say they accomplished. But stack on top of that Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture nominations and now we’re just a couple nominations away from Parasite territory. To be clear, this isn’t a perfect film, this is no Parasite, this is a quiet, patient, beautiful, sad and wonderful film, this is Drive My Car.