Yūsuke (Hidetoshi Nishijima) is an actor and theatere director, and his wife, Oto (Reika Krishima), is a TV writer who also enjoys telling stories in bed – though these scripts would be censored by any station. The bond between them seems to be deep – until Oto dies unexpectedly, leaving many secrets behind. Yūsuke goes to Hiroshima to direct a play “Uncle Vanya” in the theatre, in which the young actor Kōji (Masaki Okada) is given the lead role. Kōji knew Oto and knows the answers to her husband’s questions. However, will Yūsuke confront the man with whom his wife may have cheated on him? Her presence is constantly felt in the beautiful, gentle, melancholic film: Yūsuke plays cassettes in the car with fragments of “Uncle Vania” that she reads. Behind the wheel of his polished Saab is Misaki (Tōko Miura), a chauffeur hired by the theatre, whose silence hides memories of an old tragedy. The car she drives becomes a confessional for all heroes, and the confessions made in it will not only bring relief and peace, but also allow loners to create new bonds.

Hamaguchi observes with delight a life in which human fates cross, tangle and straighten, like side roads, city streets and highway flyovers. Although “Drive My Car” carries a huge emotional load, the director holds the steering wheel with such a firm hand that – as the main character says – “we hardly feel the gravity”. Telling with incredible lightness about loneliness and trauma, full of tenderness for his fragile heroes, allowing them to experience the closeness that we also feel gifted, Ryūsuke Hamaguchi grows not only a worthy successor to Japanese masters like Ozu, but also one of the most important artists of world cinema .