Japan’s “Drive My Car” wins U.S. Film Critics Awards

Jiji Press

9:36 JST, January 10, 2022

Tokyo (Jiji Press) — Japanese movie director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car” won the 2021 best picture award of the U.S. National Society of Film Critics on Saturday local time.

The movie also received the society’s best screenplay award, while Hamaguchi, 43, was named as best director and Hidetoshi Nishijima, 50, the leading actor of the movie, earned recognition as best actor.

Drive My Car, based on the namesake short story of Japanese author Haruki Murakami, is highly acclaimed in Japan and abroad.

Hamaguchi and screenwriter Takamasa Oe won the Best Screenplay Award for the movie at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.

The movie is one of the nominees for the non-English language best picture for the 79th Golden Globe Awards, for which the winners will be announced on Sunday local time. It has also been chosen as the work representing Japan for consideration in the international featured film category of the Academy Awards, for which the award ceremony will be held in March.

In the movie, the protagonist, who cannot overcome the loss of his wife, looks back at himself after meeting a reticent woman assigned to become his chauffeur.