This 97%-Rated Japanese Drama Won an Oscar – and It's One of the Most Devastating Films of the Decade

In 2022, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, a representative of the new wave of Japanese cinema, won the Oscar for Best International Film.

The movie is not a grand historical epic or an experimental arthouse flick, but a tender and thoughtful adaptation of a Haruki Murakami short story.

Drive My Car appears to be the tale of a theater director staging Chekhov's Uncle Vanya but beneath this deceptively simple plot lies a profound exploration of loss, guilt, unspoken pain, and the fragile hope that allows us to move on.

What Is 'Drive My Car' About?

The story centers on Yusuke, a renowned theater director experiencing a personal tragedy. Two years ago, his wife, Oto, a talented screenwriter, died.

Shortly before her death Yusuke caught her with another man. He never brought himself to ask the question that tormented him, leaving an unspoken question that now gnaws at him from within.

Later, Yusuke is invited to stage Uncle Vanya for the Hiroshima Theater Festival. Due to his contract, he cannot drive himself, so he is assigned a personal driver: a young, taciturn woman named Misaki.

Every day, they drive forty minutes from the hotel to the theater and back. Yusuke listens to audiotapes of the play recorded by his late wife while Misaki silently drives his favorite red car.

In 'Drive My Car', Chekhov's Play Serves as a Reflection of Human Vulnerability

Yusuke's production is unique in that it is a multilingual experiment – each actor speaks in their native language, Japanese, German, or Korean Sign Language, and a translation is projected on a screen behind the stage for the audience.

This artistic device serves as a metaphor for the movie as a whole: people constantly speak different languages, fail to understand each other, and are unable to fully express their true feelings.

In this sense, Chekhov's Uncle Vanya is the perfect play for Hamaguchi – it's filled with characters who live together yet are unbearably lonely.

For the Main Characters of 'Drive My Car', the Road Becomes a Path Toward Healing

In Drive My Car, Ryusuke Hamaguchi explores a central concept of Japanese culture: "ma," which refers to the empty space or gap in time that exists "in between."

For Yusuke, it is the space between his wife's death and his acceptance of it. More broadly, it is the space between what is said and what is understood, and between the desire to speak and the ability to be heard.

The forty-minute drive from the hotel to the theater becomes this "ma" for the characters. Misaki, who had a difficult childhood, proves to be the perfect listener – she simply drives, allowing Yusuke to gradually reveal what he's been hiding for so long.

They bond over their loneliness and desperate search for a way out and this connection allows Yusuke and Misaki to finally let go of the past and move on.

What Did Critics & Viewers Think of 'Drive My Car'?

• Drive My Car has 97% from critics and 78% from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes.

• On IMDb, the movie has a score of 7.5/10.

• On Letterboxd, Drive My Car scored 4.2/5.0.

Where to Watch 'Drive My Car'?

Drive My Car is available to stream on HBO Max and The Criterion Channel.