Drive My Car (2021)
“We must keep on living.” – Yusuke Kafuku.
Drive My Car (2021)
Directed by: Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Written by: Haruki Murakami (short story), Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe
Starring: Hidetoshi Nishijima, Toko Miura, Reka Kirishima
My anaemic millennial attention span and the need to read subtitles is a dangerous combination. Therefore I was a bit apprehensive entering this 3-hour Japanese tragic drama. But…to my surprise, I found myself fully engrossed in the film. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still wayyyy too long (for reference, even the epilogue before the opening credits goes for 40 mins), but the exploration of life, death and self was so unusual that I felt glued to the screen.
Drive My Car focuses on Yusuke Kafuku (Nishijima), a celebrated actor who receives an offer to direct a play in Hiroshima. While there, he becomes closer with a hired chauffeur while attempting to put together the pieces of his broken life.
With a lonely, introspective protagonist, this is a gut-punch from start to finish. It’s depressing and raw, with the recurring motif of Kafuku’s car representing the evolution of his personality throughout the film;
At first he is closed-off and wallows in isolated self-reflection.
But when forced to share the car with his driver, the forced intimacy acts as a form of therapy.
And I suppose that's what this film can feel like – three hours of therapy – with plenty of long scene transitions that almost encourage your mind to wander. This is helped by the wonderful sound editing in the film, with very generic everyday ambiance juxtaposed with sudden moments of silence. These moments of silence infiltrate the dialogue as well, with the director not scared to extend conversations to the extreme. The acting is also off the charts, and although it is helped by the meta ‘play-within-a-play’ plot, Nishijima is incredible in the lead role
However, let’s be honest - three hours is just too damn long for a movie. And that’s the main reason this isn’t rated higher. I’m sure some will love the immersive experience and unpacking the mountains of thematic subject matter, but the viewing fatigue really hit me at about the 150-minute mark, dampening the (admittedly strong) ending of the film.
I’ll be back eventually, but for now, this is a well-crafted acquired taste.
Rating: 8/10