[KineJapan] Drive My Car

[Markus Nornes]

I finally saw Drive My Car the other day. It's one of those films that
dwells inside you long afterwards. Loved it.

The rhythm and pace of the film is really special. Actors deliver lines in
a slightly flat tone and regular cadence. They break into "acting" when
they audition, in advanced rehearsal or on stage, which is probably what
makes those scenes so striking. I have to admit I hate films-about-theater,
and one reason is the style of performance comes off as so stilted and
wrong (have yet to see Hamaguchi's Intimacies, but I'd probably dislike
it). But this was one film-about-theater that quite mysteriously _worked_.

Hamaguchi builds a curious self-reflexivity into *Drive My Car.* The weird
style of rehearsal built into the narrative was also what he subjected his
actors to in preproduction. And, judging from comments by a couple of them,
they really didn't know what to make of it (the actors are disciplined if
they deliver lines with any degree of emoting).

There is a key line delivered by a mute character to the theater director
that goes something like, "Unlike the others, I always have to struggle
with words and communicating meaning, so I understand how what matters is
not always in the words. I understand what you are doing." This is
definitely what's going on in this film; at the same time, I couldn't help
noticing the climax is ultimately...wordy.

So this got me wondering. *Drive My Car* would seem to embody the legacy of
what Aaron called the "detached style" of 90s/turn of the century Japanese
film—films like *Eureka,* another quiet film about trauma, memory, and
healing. I won't rehearse Aaron's argument here (if you haven't encountered
it, here is a nice gloss
<https://www.academia.edu/217600/Recognizing_Others_in_a_New_Japanese_Cinema?email_work_card=title>)
  But I suspect Aaron has something to say about this?

I'm very curious about how other people are experiencing this film.

Fun Fact: I drove that very car back in the late 80s, and sold it to none
other than Darrell Davis.

Markus







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*Markus Nornes*
*Professor of Asian Cinema*
*Interim Chair, Dept. of Asian Languages and Culture*

Department of Film, Television and Media, Department of Asian Languages and
Cultures, Penny Stamps School of Art & Design




*Homepage: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~nornes/
<http://www-personal.umich.edu/~nornes/>*
*Department of Film, Television and Media*
*6348 North Quad*
*105 S. State Street**Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1285*
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