Ryusuke Hamaguchi · 2021 · road

Ryusuke Hamaguchi's 2021 film, adapted from a Murakami short story and winner of the Academy Award for best international film. A grieving theatre director, in Hiroshima to stage Uncle Vanya, is assigned a reticent young chauffeur, and over many hours in his red Saab the two damaged people slowly open to each other, a journey ending in a long drive to her ruined hometown in Hokkaido.

1. 1
   Tokyo

   Stage actor and director Yusuke Kafuku lives in Tokyo with his screenwriter wife Oto, until her sudden death leaves a wound he cannot speak of.

2. 2
   Hiroshima

   Two years on he comes to Hiroshima to direct a multilingual Uncle Vanya, driven everywhere in his red Saab by a quiet young woman, Misaki.

3. 3
   Aomori

   They drive the length of Honshu to the Tsugaru Strait.

4. 4
   Hakodate

   By ferry across to Hokkaido, and on into the snow.

5. 5
   Kamijunitaki, Hokkaido

   Together they drive the length of Japan to the ruins of Misaki's childhood home in the far north, where each finally speaks the unspeakable.