Review of Drive My Car (2021) by Tvjerry — 06 Feb 2022

This 3-hour Japanese import has lots of driving (as you might expect). A stage actor/director listens to his lines while in the car. When he travels to a theater festival in Hiroshima, he listens to the dialogue from Uncle Vanya while driving.

After the plot's setup 2 years earlier, the rest of the film takes place during the rehearsals for the play and there's lots of rehearsal time with them reading Checkov. Interspersed thru all of this is the director's longing for his former wife, while grappling with the mysteries she left behind.

The filmmaking style is flat and straightforward. There's little emotion until near the end and even that is subdued. As a restrained examination of the art and life, it may be fulfilling to some, but at 3 hours, it won't appeal to most.