NP: Drive My Car

[Johnny Marr]

Apologies for not yet joining in the BE group read, I’ve yet to find my old
copy. Will be happy to participate, it’s gone under the radar in more
mainstream culture as one of the key 9/11 works

Anyway, I’d like to recommend the film Drive My Car invade that goes under
the radar. It’s a 3 hour Japanese film, adapted from a Murukami short
story. It has moments of great stillness, sudden drama and a constantly
undulating narrative of surprises, dilemmas, compromises, regrets and
revelations.

A story of a celebrated but flawed theatrical impressario burdened by his
personal history and lost marriage, who has to come to terms with the
devastating restriction of no longer able to drive (a key source of his
creative and interior reflection), he takes on an enigmatic young female
driver as he begins to assemble the cast for the adaptation of Uncle Vanya
he’s been aching to make.

Those who’ve seen Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s previous works might have some taste
of what’s to come stylistically and thematically; if you’re unfamiliar, he
combines what you might consider the traditional virtues of the understated
Japanese dramas of Ozu, Kore-eda and Naruse with the cerebral
conversational works of Rivette and Rohmer, the more technocratic
psychosexual explorations of Kubrick and Cronenberg, and Hitchcock’s
narratives of voyeurism, control, performance, guilt and helplessness.

It’s a deeply thoughtful film which looks at the duality of man (and
woman), the pain of betrayal, the fragility of trust and the drive for
control in a world dictated for chance. It sees the importance of forgiving
those who have trespassed against us, the anguish of discovering a darker
side to those we have lost, the unknowability of one another’s inner
thoughts and secrets, and how deeper truths can be communicated without a
word exchanged. It’s the best film I’ve seen this year and if you’ve got
the time and inclination I’d recommend it if it’s playing at a cinema near
you.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dazeddigital.com/film-tv/article/54809/1/drive-my-car-ryusuke-hamaguchi-cannes-wheel-of-fortune-fantasy-interview%3famp=1