The recent popularity of another international film, the Japanese movieDrive My Car(winner of the Best International FilmOscar), corroborates that very assertion. Director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s tale of self-discovery is a didactic work of art; thisadaptation of the Haruki Murakami short storyis a meditative, slow, and beautiful film strengthened by the captivating performances by its leads.
The veracity of the urban hum-drum lifestyle, the sanguinity of characters, the magic of solitude, and man’s connection with the world are some of the many subtle and beautiful things the makers got right inDrive My Car. The film takes an ample amount of time to get the audience habituated to the reclusive tone and theme of the film and strictly avoids monotony by unraveling the characters' conflicts in a patient but complicated manner. The film is an in-depth study of psychological frailty, desires, morality, epiphanies and more.
Films which leave an everlasting impact likeDrive My Carwill leave you in a ravenous state of wanting more. Fortunately, the Japanese film industry continues to be a large contributor to great cinema, releasing a variety of masterpieces in recent years. So here is a list of the best Japanese movies of the past seven years, similar toDrive My Car, to quench your thirst for meditative cinema.
5Shoplifters
Shoplifters, the Palme d’Or winning masterpiece from Hirokazu Koreeda is one of the greatest films of the past decade, Japanese or not. Bolstered by unblemished human emotions,Shoplifterssublimely encapsulate the synthesized evolution of human behavior through an unconventional Japanese lower-middle-class family striving to be conspicuously elusive from the society they’re engulfed in. The film sagaciously rewrites the fundamentals of human survival in a mind-shattering way.
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Hirokazu Koreeda is one of the greatest auteurs of modern cinema, with a contagious body of work includingNobody KnowsandStill Walking, Hirokazu Koreeda has a strong position in modern cinema, and deserves to bear the light ignited by Japanese cinematic giant, Akira Kurosawa.Shopliftersis arguably his greatest masterpiece.
4Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
This three-part anthology film (from the same director ofDrive My Car), is an exploration of solitude through three disparate individuals: a middle-aged woman, a college student, and an aspiring model of different ages and traits who stumble and succumb to the encounters and hassles of their respective lives.TheWheel of Fortune & Fantasyis an intense deep dive into the inner conflict of different recluses, and a look at emotions which get repressed and camouflaged under social pressure.
3A Whisker Away
A Whisker Awayis a luminous anime film that’s less pensive and more adorable; the film’s quotient of cuteness brightens your cheeks and forces a blush on your face. It tells the story of Miyo, a girl who is enamored with Hinode (her peer), but Hinode never reciprocates her feelings, so she decides to turn into a cutesy little fluffy cat in an impromptu way to be closer to him and feel the warmth of Hinode’s companionship. Her little naive obsession with Hinode is a resonant depiction of the need for companionship; thegreat anime movietriumphs in showing the desperation for human interaction and the ways in which people will change in order to accommodate love.
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2Happy Hour
Hamaguchi’s breakthrough film,Happy Hour, does what films worldwide are slowly treading away from: it tells the engrossing story of a group of women throughout its five and a half hour duration. WithHappy Hour, Hamaguchi shatters the principle of pre-established protagonists and invites the audience to start from square one, dropping them into his world. Watching the film feels like participating in the complex dissection of speculated characters, with respective arcs sprawling across different directions, but all grounded by the commonality of human drama. The women of the film were portrayed by non-actors, who jointly won Best Actor at the Locarno Film Festival, and they do an incredible job.
1Red Post on Escher Street
Red Post on Escher Street,by the great (and oftenvery controversial movie) director Sion Sono, carefully observes the emotional transformation of characters rather than relying on plot, likeDrive My Car. Also, the long duration of the film allows it to visually capture the tribulations, hard work, trepidation, ramifications, complications, other problems of filmmakers. It is a film that glorifies the craftsmanship and hard work of crews and cast members who often go unmentioned in the art of cinema, and is a beautiful love letter to film itself.
