DRIVE MY CAR Review

“Is it possible, in the final analysis, for one human being to achieve perfect understanding of another? We can invest enormous time and energy in serious efforts to know another person, but in the end, how close can we come to that person’s essence? We convince ourselves that we know the other person well, but do we really know anything important about anyone?” - Haruki Murakami, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

A graceful, patient reflection on guilt and grief. The half-asleep environment Murakami is so keen to mold captured in sight, sound, and all other metrics. The film more or less immediately establishes itself as a beautiful picture. The vital opening scene, the long takes of driving, and everything in between. The camera is patient and occasionally playful, but never out of place. And the score fits hand-in-glove. Sparse, kicking in at those intermittent moments between states of attention, like it would on a long car ride. The car itself a great character (and totem), adding to the long list within. Picking out favorites here is like operating a claw machine in a bin filled with opals. All are winners. Each performance bouncing off the other with grace and, again, patience. Such lovely ballet between word and action that I'm guessing my re-watch of this will just be various "Remember that one scene..." regurgitations wrapped in joy.

So many tales as such can feel elementary in their structure and execution. A laminated airline card of story beats. Drive My Car feels like an actual journey, filled with arcs of questions in character and audience. But isn't that what great stories are to do: give us brief time in that ghostly nonexistence between empathy for the characters and reflection inward?

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The above was taken from my Letterboxd review.