Drive My Car

Drive My Car (ドライブ・マイ・カー) is a good movie. It's a slow burn, but it has some truly beautiful sequences in it, and I loved every moment that we spent in the theatre. Rehearsals were fascinating, and the finished theatre product (with which the movie ends) was heartbreaking and gorgeous. This is a film about grief and loss and wanting to hold onto what we have instead of appreciating what we have. But it's just not a great film. It never takes off and begins to soar, really. 

And, I have to say, the Murakami-ness of it all annoyed me. I think maybe I am one of the only people I know who doesn't love Murakami. But I don't understand why he introduces so many elements into one story. Often they appear (as with the driver's mother's dissociative identity disorder – is that what it was? – at the end of Drive My Car) just for one sequence and they never come back again. I find this annoying, like he's giving me 15 extra pieces for a jigsaw puzzle that just never fit, even when the puzzle is done. 

Don't get me wrong, the acting is great (Hidetoshi Nishijima and Yoo-rim Park are especially wonderful), the filmmaking is beautiful, the music is lovely. But this is a long and talky film that, for me, never quite lifted off.