Several Oscar contenders are now streaming on HBO Max, such as “Nightmare Alley” and “The Eyes of Tammy Faye.”
But the best of the bunch is undoubtedly “Drive My Car,” which cruises onto the platform Wednesday with stellar reviews (98% positive on Rotten Tomatoes) and four Oscar nominations in its tank, including best picture, best director (Ryusuke Hamaguchi), best adapted screenplay and best international feature film.
The mesmerizing Japanese drama, which is also in theaters nationwide, is strikingly different from the sorts of movies that the academy usually goes for: It’s a three-hour foreign-language film that values silence and examines human connection through a tight-knit group of people rehearsing Anton Chekhov’s 1898 play “Uncle Vanya.”
“To to be honest, I didn’t expect this at all,” Hamaguchi says of the nominations. “There were some film critics in Japan who were (predicting), ‘You might be nominated for best film (at the Oscars)’ and I was saying, ‘No way will that happen!’ But now that it has, it really makes me think that I’m living in a time where big changes are happening in the world today. And I’m very happy to be part of the 10 films in the best (picture) category, because that means people are responding to the film in its entirety.”
Set primarily in Hiroshima, the story centers on an actor named Yusuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima), who is blindsided by the sudden death of his wife, Oto (Reika Kirishima). Two years later, he agrees to direct a multi-language stage production of “Uncle Vanya” starring embattled film actor Koji Takatsuki (Masaki Okada), who may have had an affair with Oto. Meanwhile, the theater hires a stoic young chauffeur, Misaki Watari (Toko Miura), to drive Kafuku around the city. Gradually, the reticent pair begins to open up to each other about past trauma and grief.
“Drive My Car” is adapted from Haruki Murakami’s 2014 short story. Reading it for the first time, Hamaguchi was intrigued by the idea of how long car rides – in this case, in a sleek red Saab 900 – can bring out candid conversation in people, whether they’re friends, strangers or partners.
“When we’re sitting in cars, we’re physically very close to each other and that can actually lead to a certain discomfort if there’s no conversation,” Hamaguchi says.
Typically, “people are looking out into the landscape when they’re talking – they’re not looking at each other. That allows for the conversations to reflect internally for the people who are speaking. When one person reveals something very truthful about themselves, that makes the other person have to respond in an honest way.”
n adapting Murakami’s story, Hamaguchi was surprised to find that Kafuku and Chekhov’s famously embittered, lovelorn character of Vanya “are really mirrors for each other,” he says. Many scenes and monologues from the play are performed in the movie: “I felt that by having ‘Drive My Car’ and ‘Uncle Vanya’ run parallel to each other, it would lead to a better understanding of the film for the audience.”
Along with its theatrical subtext, the film explores the complicated nature of memory and mourning. Through heart-to-hearts with his driver, Watari, and eventually his lead actor, Takatsuki, Kafuku is forced to see his late wife as a
“Often we are left behind with things that we couldn’t communicate when (loved ones) were living, and that leads to an element of tragedy,” Hamaguchi says.
The film’s ability to gently communicate such profound, heart-wrenching ideas is part of why it may have resonated so strongly with members of the increasingly international academy.
“There is a lingering factor to ‘Drive My Car’ that other films in the Oscar race don’t have,” says Ryan McQuade, executive editor of prediction site AwardsWatch. “The majority of people I know who’ve seen the film can’t get it out of their heads for days. … It’s clear once members of the academy saw it, they fell under its methodical, moving spell.”
“Drive My Car” is one of only a dozen foreign-language films to jump categories and be nominated for best picture, the last being Bong Joon-ho’s South Korean thriller “Parasite,” which won the Oscars’ top prize in 2020. Hamaguchi’s movie is unlikely to repeat the latter’s victory, although experts on awards site GoldDerby near-unanimously predict that “Drive My Car” will take best international feature.
Hamaguchi, meanwhile, says he’s “at a loss” when asked about the film’s tremendous appeal. But if he had to guess, it would be the story’s deeply human themes of loss and revitalization.
“When we love somebody, it means there’s a moment where we must separate with them,” Hamaguchi says. “The things that make us most happy can also result in what make us the most sad. It’s this universal truth that I took a lot of time to carefully depict and may have led to some of its successes.”