“At the simplest of its many intricate levels, Ryûshuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car is a masterpiece–haunting and true, melancholy and wise–inspired by another.”—Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times
Adapted from Haruki Murakami’s short story, Ryûshuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car is a haunting road movie traveling a path of love, loss, acceptance, and peace.
Two years after his wife’s unexpected death, Yusuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima), a renowned stage actor and director, receives an offer to direct a production of Uncle Vanya at a theater festival in Hiroshima. There, he meets Misaki Watari (Toko Miura), a taciturn young woman assigned by the festival to chauffeur him in his beloved red Saab 900. As the production’s premiere approaches, tensions mount amongst the cast and crew, not least between Yusuke and Koji Takatsuki, a handsome TV star who shares an unwelcome connection to Yusuke’s late wife. Forced to confront painful truths raised from his past, Yusuke begins–with the help of his driver–to face the haunting mysteries his wife left behind.
Winner of three prizes at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, including Best Screenplay. 2021, Japan, DCP, in Japanese, Korean, English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Tagalog, Indonesian, German, and Malaysian with English subtitles, 179 minutes. Recommended for 16+.