Drive My Car

Winner of the Best Screenplay and FIPRESCI (International Critics) awards at the Cannes festival last year, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s adaptation of a Haruki Murakami short story is a knockout! Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima) is an internationally famous theatre actor and director. One day, he returns home unexpectedly to discover his wife (Reika Kirishima) having sex with a young actor, but, unobserved, doesn’t confront her. And then it’s too late. Two years later, Kafuku—who is now chauffeured to and from work by a young woman, Misaki (Toko Miura), due to his eye problems—is directing a stage production of ‘Uncle Vanya’. During the car rides, the two open up about their lives. When Takatsuki—the actor who slept with Kafuku’s wife—auditions for a supporting role in the play, Kafuku surprises everyone by casting the young man in the title role… ‘Hamaguchi’s mysterious and beautiful new film… ascends to something with passion and even a kind of grandeur. It is a film about the link between confession, creativity, and sexuality, and the unending mystery of other people’s lives and secrets.’—Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian