Photo: Janus Films / courtesy Everett Collection
One of the must-see films of award season is finally available to stream online.
Drive My Carwas first released on Nov. 24, 2021, and has been gaining momentum in recent weeks following itsAcademy Award nominations.
While the Japanese drama is up for four Oscars, including Best Picture, it’s already an award-winning film.
After making its world premiere at the 2021Cannes Film Festival, the Ryusuke Hamaguchi-directed project took home three awards at the festival, including best screenplay.
With its Best Picture nomination atthe Oscars, it made history as the first Japanese film to be nominated in the category. Meanwhile, Hamaguchi is the third Japanese director to be nominated for Best Director since Hiroshi Teshigahara in 1965 and Akira Kurosawa in 1985.
Before tuning intoDrive My Car, here’s everything you need to know about the Oscar-nominated film.
Who is in theDrive My Carcast?
Yuki Tanaka/Getty; Daniele Venturelli/WireImage
The film stars Hidetoshi Nishijima as Yūsuke Kafuku, Tōko Miura as Misaki Watari, Masaki Okada as Kōji Takatsuki, and Reika Kirishima as Oto Kafuku. The rest of the cast also includes Park Yu-rim, Jin Dae-yeon, Sonia Yuan , Ahn Hwitae, Jeong-eui Perry Dizon, and Satoko Abe.
What isDrive My CarAbout?
Janus Films / courtesy Everett Collection
During their car rides together, the two begin to discuss their lives and eventually bond over their shared loss of a loved one; Yūsuke with his wife and Misaki with the death of her abusive mother. Along the way, they help each other cope with their pain.
IsDrive My Carbased on a book?
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Despite sharing the same name,Drive My Carisn’t based on a Beatles song. It’s actually based on Haruki Murakami’s short story of the same name from his 2014 collectionMen Without Women. The film also takes inspiration from other stories featured in the collection.
“I realized that there are a lot of thematic commonalities between the stories, so I thought that, perhaps instead of inventing new material, I could use elements from these other stories and string them together to an extent,” directorRyusuke Hamaguchi toldThe Hollywood Reporter. “For the Haruki-ists, you will see I used key pieces from the storiesScheherazadeandKino. Then I also incorporated more from Chekhov’s playUncle Vanya, which plays a smaller part in Murakami’s original version ofDrive My Car.”
What awards isDrive My Carnominated for?
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Drive My Caris up for four Oscars this year. In addition to Best Picture, the film scored nominations for Best Director, Best International Feature Film, and Best Adapted Screenplay.
The film is alsonominated for three BAFTA Awards, including film not in the English language, director, and adapted screenplay.
In addition to winning three awards at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, the film alsowon best foreign language filmduring theGolden Globesin December 2021.
Where can you watchDrive My Caronline?
The movie becameavailable to stream on HBO Maxon March 2. It’s also available to rent on Amazon Prime Video.
source: people.com
