Drive My Car Becomes The First Japanese Film To Be Nominated For An Oscar 2022

Drive My Car (Bitters End)

JAKARTA - The film Drive My Car directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi received a nomination at the 94th Academy Awards. With this, it became the first Japanese film to be nominated for a major Oscar.

Drive My Car earned a Best Picture nomination and competed with Dune, Don't Look Up, The Power of the Dog, Belfast, Coda, King Richard, Licorice Pizza, Nightmare Alley, and West Side Story.

And the nominees for Best Picture are... #Oscars pic.twitter.com/wKEWVMpqwl

— The Academy (@TheAcademy) February 8, 2022

Besides Best Picture, Drive My Car also received three other nominations, namely Best Director, Best International Feature, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Ryusuke Hamaguchi as director also achieved a new record as a Japanese director who received nominations after Akira Kurosawa in 1986.

The story of Drive My Car has received positive appreciation, one of which is Best Screenplay at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. The film also won Best Non-English Film at the Golden Globe.

Drive My Car is adapted from a short story by Haruki Murakami which is included in the Men Without Women story collection. The story was later developed by Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe.

Drive My Car tells the story of a stage actor and director Yusuke Mafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima) who is grieving after the loss of his wife. He accepts an offer to direct a production and meets Misaki Watari (Toko Miura), the woman assigned to be Yusuke's driver.

The final night of the 2022 Oscars will be held on March 27.