The Webster University Film Series opens 2022 with a bang this week with one of the buzziest international films of 2021, Ryūsuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car. Based on a short story of the same name by Haruki Murakami, Drive My Car centers around a theater director dealing with the aftermath of a great tragedy and the relationship he develops with his chauffeur while putting on an unusual production of Anton Chekov’s Uncle Vanya.
If you’ve been keeping track of the year-end Best Films of 2021 lists making the rounds, there’s a good chance you’ve seen Drive My Car near the tops of several (including former President Barack Obama’s). The film originally premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, where it took home the Best Screenplay award. Hamaguchi’s film also built significant word-of-mouth buzz playing the film festival circuit throughout the fall. Director of the Webster University Film Series Pete Timmermann notes that the film not only topped critics’ lists at both the New York Times and the LA Times, among others, but also took home Best International Feature and runner-up for Best Screenplay by our own St. Louis Film Critics Association. It also recently made the Oscars’ Best International Feature shortlist as the submission from Japan.
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With buzz this strong, it was clear to Timmermann that there would be significant interest for Drive My Car when it finally opened in St. Louis. “We’re giving it nine play dates, which in my knowledge, I’m not sure the film series has ever given nine dates to anything before,” Timmermann says.
Timmermann also notes that the Webster University Film Series has seen great success with Hamaguchi’s films in the past, screening his 2019 film Asako I & II before the film hit New York. The Webster University Film Series also sponsored Hamaguchi’s other 2021 film, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, when it played at the St. Louis International Film Festival in November (which St. Louis Magazine also highlighted in our 2021 SLIFF preview).
While it’s easy for a film to get overhyped with this much early buzz, Timmermann has already seen strong positive reactions from a special preview screening in December. “At that initial preview screening, I had three people tell me that they’re going to come back and see it again during our run,” Timmermann says. “Aside from the Lord of the Rings movies, people don’t tend to be in a big hurry to see three-hour-long movies more than once in theaters.”
If you’re excited by the prospect of settling in for a three-hour long Murakami adaptation from one of the most interesting Japanese filmmakers working today, Drive My Car is not to be missed.
Drive My Car is playing January 6-9 and 13-16. Click here for more information about specific showtimes from the Webster University Film Series.
