[KineJapan] Drive My Car

[Michael Kerpan]

Markus -- Is this streaming anywhere yet (or might it soon?)

Michael Kerpan
Boston

On Tue, Feb 1, 2022 at 12:11 PM Markus Nornes via KineJapan <
kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu> wrote:

> 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
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---
>
> *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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