Despite the box-office success of Hirokazu Kore-eda¡¯s 2018 Palme d¡¯Or winner, ¡°Shoplifters,¡± there¡¯s a lingering perception in Japan that Cannes is a playground for filmmakers to indulge the tastes of Champagne-quaffing cinephiles without any care for audiences back home.
Ryusuke Hamaguchi¡¯s ¡°Drive My Car,¡± which won the best screenplay award at this year¡¯s festival, seems unlikely to change that view. This slow-burning three-hour drama is the kind of film that critics adore, but despite earning stellar reviews, it seems unlikely to capture the public¡¯s imagination like ¡°Shoplifters¡± did.
The closest Hamaguchi comes to a commercial concession is in his choice of source material: a short story by Haruki Murakami, featured in the author¡¯s 2014 collection, ¡°Men Without Women.¡± Far from a straight adaptation, Hamaguchi and co-screenwriter Takamasa Oe use the story as the starting point for a meta-drama that gets more interesting the further it drifts from the original.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.