Director of 'Drive My Car' surprised by Oscar, popularity

Ryusuke Hamaguchi

Ryusuke Hamaguchi, winner of the award for "Drive My Automobile," from Japan, for finest worldwide function movie, poses within the press room on the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, on the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photograph by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

TOKYO --
Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi says he was stunned by the worldwide reputation of his Oscar-winning movie "Drive My Automobile," however attributes it to the universality of the brief story by Haruki Murakami on which it's primarily based.


The film facilities on an actor performed by Hidetoshi Nishijima who's directing a multilingual manufacturing of Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya." Nonetheless mourning the sudden lack of his spouse, the actor, Kafuku, leads the solid in rehearsals through which they sit and skim their strains flatly, ingesting the language for days earlier than appearing them out.


The three-hour-long story of grief, connection and restoration gained an Academy Award final month for finest worldwide function movie.


"Truly I used to be stunned by how broadly this movie has been accepted," Hamaguchi mentioned at a information convention in Tokyo on Tuesday, his first main occasion because the Oscar.


Whereas attributing its reputation to the universality of Murakami's story, Hamaguchi mentioned the actors "put it on the display screen in a really convincing method, despite the fact that I am certain it was an especially difficult activity for them to embody Haruki Murakami's worldview."


On his half, he tried to "present some type of hope, as Mr. Haruki Murakami does in his novels, so we are able to really feel this character is now OK -- the method of loss and coming to phrases with it to maneuver on -- if not fairly a full restoration," Hamaguchi mentioned.


The "inside actuality" of the characters within the story is each the allure and issue of turning Murakami's story into visuals, Hamaguchi mentioned.


"Describing inside actuality ... is one thing motion pictures usually are not superb at," Hamaguchi mentioned. So he determined to not hint the written language of the unique story. "The extra enticing a narrative is, the more durable it's for visuals to surpass the photographs already fashioned within the minds of readers," he mentioned.


Hamaguchi mentioned he determined to visualise the core of the story -- the connection between Kafuku and his a lot youthful driver Misaki -- who has additionally suffered the lack of her mom in a mudslide -- which step by step deepens by their conversations in his beloved pink Saab, one in all few colourful objects within the film.


The movie combines the inside worlds of Murakami and Chekhov and displays their similarities, Hamaguchi mentioned.


Conversations between Kafuku and Misaki distinction with these of Vanya and Sonya in "Uncle Vanya," and when Kafuku acts as Vanya throughout the efficiency, he comes to appreciate his personal inside phrases towards restoration.


"So I discovered `Drive My Automobile' and `Uncle Vanya' splendidly intertwined as in the event that they translated one another," Hamaguchi mentioned.


Hamaguchi mentioned he wished to thank Murakami on the Oscar awards ceremony however missed the prospect as a result of his "thanks" after giving an extended record of actors' names was misunderstood as the tip of his speech.


"I nonetheless wished to thank Murakami-san and my employees," he mentioned.


Hamaguchi's movies, which embody the anthology "Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy" launched final yr, are acclaimed, however he was not broadly recognized in Hollywood earlier than an award for finest screenplay ultimately yr's Cannes Movie Competition introduced consideration to "Drive My Automobile."


Hamaguchi mentioned worldwide audiences now see Asia as a supply of fascinating movies, and he hopes his fellow filmmakers can create motion pictures that may "pierce by the hearts of audiences" and stay as much as their expectations.


His targets for his subsequent movie? "I simply need to have the ability to say I made one that could be a little higher than my earlier one," Hamaguchi mentioned.

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