Drive My Car - Movie Review

[@CHODALLOO]

I just watched this film last night and I really loved the way it showed art's capacity to heal. The scene you mentioned between the two male characters was terrific as well, so many subtleties in the facial expressions, the eyes welling with tears and concern over whether the characters were telling the truth, or merely trying to seem like they had the deeper connection with Oto. I loved it.

[@moviehusbands]

Glad you loved it too! That scene is so nuanced and yet so emotional. I'm anxious to watch it again - with knowledge of the destination I think the journey will be rewarding a second time.

[@Ronaldsframes]

Thank you for your thoughtful review of this film. I’m curious to check out more of your reviews. Best,

[@sourcherry23]

Out of the Drive My Car reviews I've seen, this captured my thoughts well after seeing it. Fantastic review!

[@cameronkugel2847]

The hill scene for me was the move on from his regret. Since his wife’s death all he could think about is how he was wronged and how he never told her that. There on the hill, he was finally able to free himself from it and move on with his life. I think without the scene, the audience wouldn’t have been able to experience the emotional gust that both characters felt. This movie is a masterpiece and your review was remarkable.

[@paulmannix4648]

“No truth can cure the sorrow we feel from losing a loved one. No truth, no sincerity, no strength, no kindness can cure that sorrow. All we can do is see it through to the end and learn something from it, but what we learn will be no help in facing the next sorrow that comes to us without warning.” -Norwegian Wood

[@avigailhalberg7920]

I watched this movie in Melbourne Australia at ACMI today. The theatre was packed. The audience was completely silent. It was enthralling. Loved the rich not overdone emotional language. The written dialogue which was so well matched with the filming and inuendo. I've been in Japan this afternoon. Been there before but not these places...and it was snowing. Probably one of the best films I've ever seen.

[@kanpaopao]

Thanks for the insightful review! I agree. I think the gist of this film is its parallel structure with the play Uncle Vanya. Kafuku's experience of acting the play helped him accept the "betrayal" and death of Oto, his wife, which is the biggest difference from Murakami's original story that shows us well the director Hamaguchi's creativity.

[@moviehusbands]

Completely agree with your analysis! Thanks for sharing and glad you enjoyed our review!

[@liljimbob11]

Honestly, my favorite film this year and maybe in 5 years. I really look for films like this. I absolutely wasn’t with it until the meal with the Korean couple. After that. It was magical.

[@swagikuro]

Great review guys, and I enjoyed the format!

[@bokstad]

Spoiler: As I listened to this review it really hit me how the text of the play progresses from being quite disembodied (cassette recorded by a dreaded character) to eventually quite literally embodied by Lee Yoon-a's monologue--and Kafuku's rapt attention to her signing. That was just gorgeous!

[@kansasgirl8371]

How have I just found you???? Thank you for such a thoughtful, insightful review. I struggled getting through this film but have a goal of seeing every best picture nomination this year so endured. I've started and abandoned review after review of Drive My Car and finally found the level of discussion I was seeking. Thank you, again. p.s. How do you not have 100,000 subscribers?

[@moviehusbands]

Glad you enjoyed and thank you for the kind words!

[@ZO6Buccaneer]

A bit late to the party on this one. Unfortunately I didn’t catch this back in 2021, but I was recently reading reviews for Sing Sing about that film’s portrayal of art’s ability to heal, and Drive My Car was recommended along similar themes. While I thought Sing Sing was good (not great), I found Drive My Car to be absolutely extraordinary. Having recently experienced the death of an immediate family member, this hit me like a ton of bricks. Kafuke’s arc was so personal and lived in, from his multiple losses, to finding others whom he can open up to, and then finally gaining closure and meaning in life through the play. Hamaguchi’s direction strongly echos Tarkovsky, where these long takes of not much besides slow movement or people talking begin to hypnotize you into a trance. He takes something otherwise rather boring like a cigarette, trash, or a collapsed house and turns it into something beautiful. If you haven’t seen Hamaguchi’s recent film, Evil Does Not Exist, I highly recommend it.

[@moviehusbands]

Very well said! It’s a funny coincidence you mentioned Evil Does Not Exist because we just watched it yesterday and recorded a review which will be going up this weekend 😊

[@spfilmviewers5629]

Hopefully get to watch this soon, can't wait to check it out!

[@MarkChapeau]

Great review guys - subscribed! Question - do you think Kafuku was telling the truth when he told Takatsuki that Oto slept with many men. Or was that a way to hurt him?

[@moviehusbands]

It’s a good question - the scene in the back of the car seems so genuine to me that I suspect it’s the truth. Also, the casual nature of when Kafuku catches her in the act in the beginning of the film - it’s almost as if it’s a recurrent event. However, I do think a contrary interpretation would be equally valid.

[@MarkChapeau]

@@moviehusbands agreed. cheers!

[@George_Nakhle]

Really great critiques here. One of the better reviews for this movie

[@RatatRatR]

Kafuku in Japanese is a pun on Kafka (basically pronounced identically), not like Ko-foo-koo.

[@Cinema9Podcast]

Good review!

[@garikaimadzikanda5951]

Just came from this movie…. “Magnifiqué!”

[@BuryUsAlive]

Great review! I felt much the same way about this movie growing on me in the days since I’ve seen it. I have been listening to the soundtrack on repeat all week and it still gives me chills. Something that stood out to me while watching the final scene of the play in the movie was the emotion behind Kafuku’s eyes. It was so subtly acted. Is it pain as he replays his wife’s voice while Yoon-a signs before his eyes? Is it relief as he lets go of the voice, having finally come to terms with his wife’s passing? Not to mention the play’s script giving him permission to move on. It was really powerful.

[@moviehusbands]

Agreed! That scene was such a powerful scene for the film to end on.

[@mirellavasileva2038]

Hey guys, glad to have found your channel. I saw the film last night and was eager to check analysis of it, but it turns out there are none. It seems you are the only ones giving something more than a brief overview, so please help me with understanding the last scene. What happened after the end of the play? Did he left her the car as a token? Commit suicide? Or is he still there on Hiroshima?

[@moviehusbands]

I think it could have a variety of implications, but what I took from it was this: before the final scene, the film is on track for both our main characters healing from their pain. What we know for sure is Misaki inherited the car. The car could serve as a symbol for Kafuku’s past, that he’s clinging to in his grief. Since Misaki made mention of liking the car throughout the film, he gifted it to her as a way of moving on from the death of his wife. Misaki also now has a canine companion, and seems to be at peace as well. However, the scene is vague enough that the “how” and “why” she received the car is certainly open for interpretation.

[@mirellavasileva2038]

@@moviehusbands I talked with a friend about it as well and she said - She removed the scar she had (hidden by the mask in the supermarket), so at the end it was revealed that she get rid of the scar and he got rid of the car, both symbolizing their painful past. And both of them moved on.

[@deeerwin1113]

@@mirellavasileva2038 Love this analysis!

[@erikjj235]

It's very interesting to me to see a review from a white western perspective. I can kinda see your point of view. Very good and keep it up.

[@alexfernandohuenten1374]

Awesome

[@rakeshrajjassi]

Its a good movie but God it needed trimming by 30mins.

[@jdesert5036]

Something that I felt was not well done was the lack of distinct characters. By the end of the film they all sounded like they spoke in the same voice, all much too insightful and profound (even someone using sign language). The young actor playing Uncle Vanya in the play gives an out-of-character 2-3 minute monologue in the back of a car during the last 20 mins that took me out of the movie.

[@RatatRatR]

I think it was in character for him in that he had been deeply moved by Oto. The thing I think was weird was that Oto had been telling the two of them the same story. While she was alive, her storytelling was presented like it was always coming out of her spontaneously.

[@angelthman1659]

Stop encouraging boring cinema. Drive My Car is overlong and slow. Should be called Park My Car.

[@Kivifish]

Lol u just don’t get it. Stop being a jerk to people about it.