Drive My Car

Movie: Drive My Car

Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best International Feature

How I watched: At the Laemmle, with slight people panic

When I fell asleep: My eyes closed once, third act.

When it had me: It didn't grab me all at once, it grew on me slowly.

When it lost me: Some sequences of driving

What I have to say:

Let's talk about long movies. Drive My Car was so long that it was very difficult to find parking. The lot by the Laemmle is closed and all the street parking is a 2 hour maximum. I know this isn't the film maker's fault but I was faced with a decision to either leave during the movie to move my car (drive it, as it were) or park illegally and hope for the best. Never mind, what I chose. It's not important.

Drive My Car was so long that my eyes grew heavy in the third act and as they closed I caught myself thinking, "I think I know enough Japanese by now that I can follow along without subtitles..." Then I realized I was falling asleep, because that for sure was not true and I had to sit up straight for a while so I could read the movie again.

Drive My Car was so long that 41 minutes into the film, the opening credits barged their way onto the screen, completely confusing me. So about halfway through the running time of the movie Luca, we are just now being introduced to the actors? The first 41 minutes was just a sort of prologue??? 

I am not opposed to long movies. I have enjoyed very long movies. I am also a film editor, so if you sit me down for 2:59 of a film it is impossible for me to not look for places where it could have been cut. Like sometimes we see more driving than I needed. I know the film is called Drive My Car but I mean, it really is a LOT of driving. Also, I worry that a lot of people won't go see long movies. Is your message best served by making it so long that you exclude some audiences? Maybe. Ok, enough of that.

Why is the movie so long? First, it's based on a book. A book is long form and you don't want to lose great stuff or sell it short, so you make a long movie. That makes sense. Also, the movie deals with grieving. As we all know, grief doesn't end at a funeral. It is a life long journey and that is the primary theme of this movie for me, how we change, grow, stunt and suffer at the hands of our grieving process. So it makes sense that this is not a fast paced, quick-cutting romp through a life journey. It is a contemplative, meditative, spacious, quiet, measured amble through hurting, healing and moving on.

The time and attention given to small aspects of the characters is lovely. The acting is very underplayed and also extremely moving. The tensions stretch out and the connections have real time growth. It all ends up feeling decidedly true. I really liked the experience of this movie. I remain shocked that a film like this even got nominated for best picture. I couldn't help but wonder how they even got enough people to sit through three hours in order to vote for it. Escapist entertainment this is not. It is thoughtful and observant and I'm guessing, the last horse to cross the line in the Best Picture race.