Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s “DRIVE MY CAR”
Review by Dennis D. McDonald
The storyline of this long and engrossing film is deceptively simple. A stage director comes to Hiroshima to direct a multilingual version of Checkov’s Uncle Vanya. Gradually we learn his backstory -- and his assigned driver’s backstory -- as play production and rehearsals proceed.
The director is still dealing with the deaths of his wife two years before and his four-year-old daughter 20 years before. His driver is also dealing with her own troubled youth. Into this mix comes a young actor who eventually confesses to the director an infatuation with the director’s late wife.
The connective tissue as we work our way through the play’s production and rehearsals consists of the text of the play itself, heard in rehearsals and in a recording made by the director’s late wife, and all the time we spent driving in the director’s car and the many conversations that take place there. Details of the main characters lives are revealed in the process, often during long conversations.
My wife and I watched this three hour movie over the course of three nights. Excellent English subtitles make following the story easy whether the conversation is in spoken Japanese, Mandarin, English, or Korean sign language. Events on screen proceed in sequence. Past events are frequently referenced and always help move the story and character development forward.
Photography and screen framing are impressive. Events are always well focused with the eye easily drawn to the intended person, event, or object. Color effects are often used at night but daytime colors are bright and realistic. Close ups are frequent and so are distant views of the action. The center of attention, whether it is a face in the crowd or distant view of the director’s red car, is always clear.
One thing that did puzzle me is the lack of foot and road traffic in and around Hiroshima, a city of nearly 2,000,000 people. True, much of the driving takes place in the early morning or late afternoon or evening but, regardless of the time of day, the streets and sidewalks seem curiously barren of people and vehicles. Is this how Hiroshima is in the fall? Or is this sparseness of live scenery dramatically intentional or due to a very lean budget or schedule?
Regardless, Drive My Car is an engrossing and emotionally engaging film that has been painstakingly plotted, produced, acted, photographed, and scripted. Highly recommended.
Review copyright © 2022 by Dennis D. McDonald
