A renowned stage actor and director confronts painful truths while directing Uncle Vanya in Hiroshima.
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Two years after his wife's unexpected death, Yusuke Kafuku, a renowned stage actor and director, receives an offer to direct a production of Uncle Vanya at a theater festival in Hiroshima. There, he meets Misaki Watari, a taciturn young woman assigned by the festival to chauffeur him in his beloved red Saab 900. As the production's premiere approaches, tensions mount amongst the cast and crew, not least between Yusuke and Koshi Takatsuki, a handsome TV star who shares an unwelcome connection to Yusuke's late wife. Forced to confront painful truths raised from his past, Yusuke begins - with the help of his driver - to face the haunting mysteries his wife left behind.
"Inspired by the homonymous story of Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, 'Doraibu mai kâ' is an example of how metalinguage in cinema can intertwine literature and theater in a well-constructed way. Ryusuke Hamaguchi's movie, nominated for four Oscars, makes a poetic reflection on love, grief and overcoming. Throughout three hours, the director composes the whole dilemma of the protagonist's life, played by Hidetoshi Nishijima (who is incredible in the character), and makes us understand a little more about how Japanese culture deals with losses. East Asian cinema tends to be a bit more distant in this regard and 'Doraibu mai kâ' brings another view of it - keeping in mind the Western gaze, of course. It is a very human movie about a society that deals with loss in a very different way from ours, but still it is possible to create a connection, because in the end we just want to move on. The dialogues are extremely well done and intense. The ending is very beautiful, bringing a piece of the Russian playwright and writer Anton Chekhov, 'Uncle Vanya', which is part of all the metalinguistic construction of the story."