"Two years after his wife’s death, Yusuke receives an offer to direct a production of Uncle Vanya at a theater festival. As tensions mount amongst the cast and crew, Yusuke is forced to confront painful truths raised from his past with the help of Misaki, a young woman assigned to chauffeur him. #DriveMyCar. Written and Directed by #RyusukeHamaguchi adapted from a short story by #HarukiMurakami. Starring Hidetoshi Nishijima, Toko Miura, and Reika Kirishima"
Source: MadMan Films
It is a fun movie that slowly builds by sharing the quirks of each character. You get a deep dive into Japanese culture communication, hierarchy, men's world, women's world, relationships, work, lifestyle, and use of time.
Kantai or
Hospitalite its English name, is a film set in the suburbs of Tokyo in summer
around a small family run printing shop. The son inherited the building and
business from his father. He now lives in the shop with his young wife with the
young daughter from his first marriage and his divorced sister who has recently
returned home.
The small business
gains government orders for printing jobs as a sub-contractor doing work like
envelopes. His young daughter loses her pet bird and so to help her find it
they put up a flyer around the neighbourhood on community noticeboards..
A stranger sees
the notice for the missing bird and uses it as a way to make contact with the
family. He spins a story and slowly gains trust by working in the shop and
helping with printing, which leads to him moving in and bringing his foreign
born wife. Things become uncomfortable quickly in the small living space with
two new strangers they don’t know and their big impact on daily life including
loud sex and eating habits. The foreign born wife speaks English and soon takes
over teaching English lessons to the young daughter much tothe upset of her stepmother. The owners wife
is further isolated when the foreign born wife asks the owner to join him for
dance lessons. The new visitor senses the owner’s wife may be embezzling money
from the printing business and confronts her about it.
The new visitor
then invites all his friends to stay at the house so as to help out in the
print shop, as they are all foreigners this raises the suspicions of his
Japanese neighbours. On the wife’s birthday the new visitor plans a surprise
party which brings even more guests, music and the attention of the police and
immigration officials as neighbours complain about the noise. After the arrests
the original three who live in the shop find themselves again alone pondering
what happened and what to do next.
A great setting,
interesting characters, inter family relationships, visitors, social etiquette
and conflict drawn by misunderstandings and unspoken issues leads to a film
that will captivate your interest.
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