Moviegoers will be delighted that the award-winning Japanese drama Drive My Car (2021) will be released in Victorian cinemas on February 10.
The term ‘award-winning’ is an understatement, because Drive My Car is multi award-winning, having already achieved more than 30 international awards, including three at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, with more on the horizon.
Co-written by Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe and directed by Hamaguchi, Drive My Car is based on a story by best-selling Japanese author Haruki Murakami.
Stage actor and director Yûsuk Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and his film screenwriter wife Oto Kafuku (Reika Kirishima) seemingly have an ideal existence.
Oto helps Yûsuk memorise lines by reading and recording the dialogue of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, while he in turn helps Otto create new screenplay plots during moments of passion. But, we learn all is not as well as it seems.
Two years after Otto’s death, grief-stricken Yûsuk agrees to direct Uncle Vanya at a theatre festival in Hiroshima. He reluctantly accepts the offer of a personal chauffeur to drive his car, the quietly astute Misaki (Tôko Miura).
As mysterious secrets from the past unravel and Oto’s Uncle Vanya rehearsal tape plays regularly on their travels, Yûsuk and Misaki discover they share more in common than initially thought.
The actors’ wonderfully naturalistic performances, particularly Hidetoshi Nishijima’s superb portrayal of protagonist Yûsuk, Masaki Okada (TV star Takatsuki) and Tôko Miura (Misaki) enhance credibility in the richly textured narrative.
Hidetoshi Shinomiya’s creative cinematography captures magnificent scenery (and lots of tunnels) during Yûsuk’s red Saab’s road travels, complementing the human stories of love, loss and seeking resolution.
Director Hamaguchi generously indulges time to ensure thorough character and plot development and Drive My Car runs just under three hours.
Although enjoying this movie immensely, I think it would benefit from being shortened by 20 minutes.
Drive My Car is recommended for a quality movie experience. In cinemas February 10.
Distributed by Potential Films.

• Review by Cheryl Threadgold