NP: Drive My Car

[Johnny Marr]

I’m a Londoner, so I watched it at the ICA in its first week of release

Hopefully it’ll get a release near you

On Thursday, November 25, 2021, Allan Balliett <allan.balliett at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Sir
>
> Where were you able to see this film?
>
> Thank you
>
> Allan in WV
>
>
> On Thu, Nov 25, 2021 at 5:54 PM Johnny Marr <marrja at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> 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
>> --
>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>
>