Drive My Car

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Drive My Car

Released Nov 24, 2021

2h 59m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

97%

Tomatometer

215 Reviews

78%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

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. Adapted from Haruki Murakami's short story, Ryusuke Hamaguchi's Drive My Car is a haunting road movie traveling a path of love, loss, acceptance, and peace. Winner of three prizes at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, including Best Screenplay.

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Critics Consensus

Drive My Car's imposing runtime holds a rich, patiently engrossing drama that reckons with self-acceptance and regret.

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Audience Says

Drive My Car might be a challenge if you're not ready for a movie on the longer, slower side -- but it rewards patience with a deeply moving story.

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Danny Leigh

Financial Times

Director Ryusuke Hamaguchi makes it easy to stay put. The film passes at a glide.

Rated: 4/5

Mar 24, 2022

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Tim Cogshell

FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)

I really appreciated this film. It's very slow moving and you have to stick with it.

Mar 12, 2022

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Ty Burr

Ty Burr's Watch List (Substack)

The pieces Hamaguchi assembles don’t seem to add up, and yet when it’s over you may feel that the whole is much, much larger than the sum of the parts, in ways beyond the power to articulate.

Rated: 4/4

Mar 2, 2022

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Paul Emmanuel Enicola

The Movie Buff

Adroitly balances moments of levity and epiphanies of pain; while also allowing long, uninterrupted takes to get under the viewers’ skin for a payoff that pierces, not only the body, but also the soul.

Rated: A+

Jul 4, 2024

Full Review

Amy Smith

InSession Film

When preparing myself to see Drive My Car for the first time, I made sure to get to a cinema and allow myself to be captivated for the three-hour runtime.

Mar 1, 2024

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Dave Giannini

InSession Film

Drive My Car will not be for everyone, but for those willing, your patience will be rewarded in the purest form of empathy available for cinephiles this year.

Feb 24, 2024

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Brenda

Story was too long, a lot could have been deleted and it was a very confusing story. I would not recommend this to anyone.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

04/08/22

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L

It is tedious but deep. Beautifully filmed.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

04/01/22

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William I

A masterpiece with amazing screenplay and beautiful cinematography. A touching story of love, loss and overcoming tragedy. Probably the best film to come out in the last year. The duration will likely test the patience of the casual moviegoer, but cinephiles are in for a treat.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/27/22

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B

Too drawn out. Payoff not enough. And subtitles were cut off (only saw top half of words) on the bottom. A challenging 3 hours!

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/26/22

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CJ Happy

It was loooong. Unnecessarily long. Dont go to see this if youre tired.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/24/22

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Mary Sanz

Felt stunning and heartfelt

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/23/22

Full Review

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Ryûsuke Hamaguchi

Director

Hidetoshi Nishijima

Yûsuke Kafuku

Toko Miura

Misaki Watari

Reika Kirishima

Oto, Kafuku's Wife

Yoo-rim Park

Lee Yoon-a

Dae-Young Jin

Kon Yoon-su

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Drive My Car: Trailer 1

1:57

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Synopsis

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. Adapted from Haruki Murakami's short story, Ryusuke Hamaguchi's Drive My Car is a haunting road movie traveling a path of love, loss, acceptance, and peace. Winner of three prizes at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, including Best Screenplay.

Director: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
Producer: Tsuyoshi Gorô, Misaki Kawamura, Osamu Kubota, Sachio Matsushita, Yoshito Nakabe, Keiji Okumura, Jin Suzuki, Teruhisa Yamamoto
Screenwriter: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe
Distributor: Sideshow / Janus Films
Production Co: The Asahi Shimbun Company, Drive My Car Production Committee, Bitters End, Culture Entertainment, C&I Entertainment, Nippon Shuppan Hanbai (Nippan) K.K.
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Japanese
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 24, 2021, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 2, 2022
Box Office (Gross USA): $2.3M
Runtime: 2h 59m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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