NP: Joe Morgenstern and a week old now

[Mark Kohut]

Let’s begin with what Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car” is not. It isn’t
about the Beatles, or about cars, for that matter, though it builds on the
special intimacy of sitting in a car next to a significant someone. It
isn’t in English, except for a few words and phrases now and then; the main
languages, all subtitled, are Japanese, Korean and Korean Sign Language. It
is not three hours long, as I’d been told, a piece of fake news that had me
feeling antsy in advance. The whole thing comes and goes in 2 hours and 59
minutes and seems an hour shorter, because what it is can be summed up in a
word that’s often used loosely but fits the case here—a masterpiece, a
mysteriously enthralling creation that keeps you guessing about where it’s
going, then reveals its essence with astonishing clarity. (Currently
playing in New York theaters, the film will open in Los Angeles next week,
then go into wider distribution later in the month.)