![]() For Yusuke, Misaki’s presence intrudes on a personal ritual: When he’s in the car, he plays a cassette of Oto reciting lines from Uncle Vanya-a way for him to feel connected with his wife from beyond the grave. What’s more, because of an accident during a previous artist’s residency, Yusuke must contend with a young chauffeur, Misaki Watari (Toko Miura), who’s assigned to drive him around the city. Yusuke’s grief is compounded by the discovery that Oto was having an affair with an up-and-coming actor, Koji Takatsuki (Masaki Okada), and his failure to confront his wife about her infidelity before her sudden death. Coming two years after Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite became the first foreign-language film to win Best Picture, Drive My Car is the next step toward making sure the Oscars don’t feel so local.Ī loose adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s short story of the same name, Drive My Car follows Yusuke Kafuku (played by Hidetoshi Nishijima), a renowned theater director who accepts a residency in Hiroshima to adapt Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya two years after his wife, Oto (Reika Kirishima), died from a brain hemorrhage. ![]() But while Drive My Car’s success should be attributed to, well, the movie being quite good, it also speaks to the Academy’s recent efforts to diversify its membership and recognize a wider body of films. “To be honest, if I knew the answer to this, I wouldn’t work so hard,” he says through an interpreter, speaking on the reasons behind Drive My Car’s Oscars breakout. ![]() (That countries can submit only one movie for the International Feature Film category exacerbates the issue.) So the fact that a reflective Japanese drama from low-profile indie distributor Janus Films has earned all of these plaudits and industry goodwill has come as a bit of a shock-not least of all for Hamaguchi himself. Many excellent movies-and unfortunately, a higher proportion of international films-have been lauded by critics without ever getting the attention of the Academy. Up for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and International Feature Film, though, Drive My Car has tied Akira Kurosawa’s Ran as the most nominated Japanese film in Oscars history on the way to becoming the feel-good story of award season. The latest project from emerging auteur Ryusuke Hamaguchi, it is a three-hour meditation on grief, art, and the universal need for human connection, with extended sequences devoted to characters rehearsing for a theater production or ruminating on buried traumas during scenic car rides. On the surface, Drive My Car doesn’t seem like the kind of movie that would be enthusiastically embraced by people other than critics. This expansion has already yielded a surprise inclusion this year, though it’s probably not what the Academy anticipated: the first ever Best Picture nominee from Japan. (In 2021, for instance, there were eight Best Picture nominees.) The rule change may seem insignificant, but opening up the Best Picture field can bring attention to movies that might’ve otherwise slipped through the cracks. Beginning this year, the slate of nominees for the Oscars’ crowning award was set at a full 10 films, instead of the previous range of five to 10. While Oscar headlines have focused on waning popularity and the decision to omit eight categories from the live broadcast-a choice that hasn’t been well received by the Academy’s own membership-the most under-the-radar tweak was in the Best Picture race.
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