NSFC has named the best movie of 2021: what is special about Drive My Car

The US National Society of Film Critics has named the best film of 2021. It is Doraibu mai kâ (Drive My Car) by Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi.

The rating of the best films was published on the official website of the National Society of Film Critics. In addition, the screenplay, director and actor Hidetoshi Nishijima, who played the lead role, were also recognized as the best in 2021.

The film is an adaptation of the novel Men Without Women by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. The drama premiered at the Cannes Film Festival 2021, where it won the prize for best screenplay.

Drive My Car tells the story of a talented theater director, Yūsuke, who arrives in Hiroshima to stage the play Uncle Vanya by Chekhov. The main character is given a driver, a silent girl named Misaki. It turns out that both characters have lost loved ones. Personal tragedies and traumatic experiences unite the driver and the passenger, and they develop a warm and trusting relationship.

According to film critics, the Japanese work is not intended for the general public. Not all viewers will be able to appreciate it properly. The pace of plot development is rather slow, but it has its own logic and poetry.

It is worth noting that the winners of previous years were the films Nomadland and Parasite, which later won Oscars.

The other winners of the National Society of Film Critics of the United States included Penelope Cruz (Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Parallel Mothers), Anders Danielsen (Best Supporting Actor in a Supporting Role for The Worst Man in the World), and Ruth Negga (Best Supporting Actress in a Supporting Role for Passing).