Drive My Car

"Kafuku" (Hidetoshi Nishijima) is an accomplished stage actor who is directing a performance of Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" with a group of young actors. He arrives at the venue in his red Saab motor car, determined that only he will drive himself. That's not the policy of the theatre, though, and soon he is placed in the capable hands of the somewhat laconic "Misaki" (Tôko Miura) and as the two start to get used to one and other, and he starts to get to know his new cast, the story unfolds revealing his past - his marriage to a famous playwright that ended in tragedy, and of his driver's own demons as the pair - entirely platonically - begin to fill the gaps left in each other's lives by times gone by. I did quite enjoy this, there are quite a...

I find this film to be a near perfect drama. I understand that most Americans and perhaps younger viewers everywhere will not appreciate the pacing of the movie. There are two things about this movie that make it an actor's movie.

First is the play within the play: the play within is Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, and, like most Russian classics, it's about the human condition and the response to suffering. It's the play within the play because the film slowly reveals a mirror of Chekhov's play itself.

Second, some playwrights have the gift of writing dialog that leaves the real storytelling to the unspoken dialogue - Shakespeare, Pinter, Stoppard - they all had this gift, and I nominate Hamaguchi to this list. It is amazing to watch this kin...