Ryûsuke Hamaguchi & Min Jin Lee on Drive My Car, Grief, and Silence

Inspired by a Haruki Murakami short story, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi spins an engrossing, rapturous epic about love and betrayal, grief and acceptance. With his characteristic emotional transparency, Hamaguchi charts the unexpected, complex relationships that theater actor-director Yûsuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima) forges with a trio of people out of professional, physical, or psychological necessity: his wife, Oto (Reika Kirishima), with whom he shares an erotic bond forged in fantasy and storytelling; the mysterious actor Takatsuki (Masaki Okada), whom he’s drawn to by a sense of revenge as much as fascination; and, perhaps most mysteriously, Misaki (Tôko Miura), a plaintive young woman hired by a theater company, against his wishes, to be his chauffeur while he stages Uncle Vanya. Hamaguchi specializes in revelations of the heart, and Drive My Car—a beautiful melding of two distinct authorial sensibilities—consistently steers clear of the familiar in its characters’ journeys towards self-examination. Winner of Best Screenplay at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. A Sideshow and Janus Films presentation. An NYFF59 selection.

[petitnicollas]

My father and my grandmother died of covid in the last two years. The movie touched me very deply, one of the best I saw in a long time.

[yskim]

Min-Jin Lee is a fantastic interviewer/moderator. And Drive My Car is the film of the year. Thank you Ryusuke!

[Sofiabari]

Lee Min Jin is one of the most sensitives, loving and great interviewers I've seen.

[trucannguyenhuynh]

I've just witnessed something so beautiful.

[vioinigracia]

Min Jin Lee brought out precisely every point in that movie that’s powerful and important. I thought I couldn’t admire how well this film was made more than I already did, but the insights from this interview just elevated my respect and admiration.

[mamaloveshercats]

The director owes a lot to the fine work of the interpreter’s.

[OscarDiaz-mxik]

one of the best interviews so far. This was incredible, so grateful for the translator and Min Jin Lee and Ryûsuke

[leahahaha]

I really like the arrangement which this event gave the interviewer Min Jin Lee, the director Hamaguchi Ryūsuke and his translator enough time to talk and think.
They shared thoughts about making films and making decisions so deeply, and that’s why I think this interview is so delightful.

Thank you for sharing this video 🥰

[siamcharm]

what a magnificent expereience watching this film.
far beyond anything that could be made in america.

[bzzhzgo]

Grief requires love. Love entails inevitable separation.

[gibakigamer]

Yusuke deserved a better wife that made him happy.

[BooksToMovies]

Just read Lee’s book Pachinko. Heartbreakingly beautiful