Asteroid City/Drive My Car

 It has been a couple of evenings of watching films for the first time by directors known for their unique vision. I am slightly tired, so this is likely to be short.

Asteroid City is the recently released Wes Anderson film. And my friends have really enjoyed seeing his movies. So there was a ready audience of friends available to see this film in an independent theatre for someone's birthday celebration. Admittedly, this is the first Anderson film I caught in a theatre. And maybe that is an element. But truly, this was the most enjoyable experience I have had watching his films. The movie engaged me from start to finish with its playwright structure and it's playfulness with the actors being actors being dolls and I occasionally asking for a larger motivation. It made me genuinely cackle at some points.

I guess I am guilty of being an over thinker when it comes to certain experiences. So Anderson has missed me at times because I saw the design and attention to detail and dialogue, but my appreciation got to the craftfulness of the construction rather than being part of the delivery of the joke. And this was fun. 

But tonight I watched "Drive My Car", a 2021 foreign film directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi. I had vaguely seen advertisements in theatres for this film coming out and the title fascinated me for its simplicity. So I borrowed the Criterion collection version of this film, which added a layer of interest for its recognition already for a special release in their canon.

I watched it, knowing nothing more than that title and that stamp of approval. And was absolutely rooted by its patience and tranquility. It is full of quiet moments and physical presence in performance. The movie follows a playwright whose theme is multilingual performances of classic plays, with a stage screen projector backdrop subtitling the dialogue in multiple languages for the audience.

There is an audition scene midway through the film that changes gears so powerfully from standstill to full throttle intention that I had to rewatch it again. This film does many things in showing a life unfolding like a slow blooming rosebush with moments of beauty and pain.

 

Excellent movies

Emotional ignition

Quiet engines hum