A quiet and potent exploration of grief

THE new screen adaptation of a Haruki Murakami story may be one of the most absorbing films of 2021. It has a runtime of three hours, but it feels no longer than most films because the characters are so full and fascinating, despite how quiet they are. For this and more, it earned the Best Screenplay award at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.

The original short story Drive My Car is taken from Murakami's 2014 story collection Men Without Women. It is about a widowed theatre practitioner who hires a female chauffeur to drive him to and from work. During a car ride, the widower tells his chauffeur about his late wife's infidelities and his attempt to befriend one of her lovers after her death.

The film, co-written and directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, expands the short story's universe considerably. It fleshes out things that were briefly mentioned in the short story, and introduces new and intriguing characters. It makes Murakami more absorbing than he has ever been when transferred from page to screen.