Yosuke Kafuko is living a happy and creative life with his wife Oto. He a successful actor and director, she a brilliant screenwriter. Whilst journeying in their car, during or after sex, she spins elaborate and bizzarely dreamlike tales. Yet there is much that remains unspoken, particularly of Oto's regular extra marital affairs. He knows when these are happening but never says anything, he is so afraid of losing her. On the night he thinks they are going to finally broach the subject, he returns to find her unconscious, she later dies.
Three years later Kafuko is a director in residence, assembling a cast for a production of Chekhov's Uncle Vanja. He chooses Takatsuki to play the lead, because he recognises him as Oto's final lover. He wants to understand why Oto needed these affairs, what they gave her that he could not. But its too late now, isn't it? Coming with this job is his very own driver, Misaki Watari, she is very skilled at her job and a good listener. On their daily car journeys they reveal more and more to each other. Discovering they have a lot in common, for each holds a secret guilt.
Based on a Haruki Murakami short story from his collection Men without Women. The film bears some of his trademark strange twists on reality. Different to the book, a lot of why what happens happens, never gets fully explained. The film is a slow elegiac car journey, that nevertheless remains quietly captivating throughout its nearly three hours of running time. If that feelings daunting, be not afraid, it is well worth the effort of surrendering to its simplicity, pace and poignancy.
CARROT SCORE - 6/8
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