★★★★★ a profoundly beautiful film.
Daily Telegraph
★★★★★ It is an engrossing and exalting experience.
The Guardian
★★★★★ It feels as expansive as the whole world.
Washington Post
★★★★★ It’s beautiful in every conceivable way.
San Jose Mercury News
★★★★★ Drive My Car is one of 2021’s best films
MovieFreak.com
★★★★★ …vehicular poetry of the sorrow from which we run, the collisions that awaken us, and the healing gained from every bump in the road.
Rogerebert.com
★★★★★ One of the year’s finest films, set at ‘Uncle Vanya’ rehearsals and behind the wheel of a Saab.
Chicago Tribune
★★★★★ Head-spinning in its psychological scope and dramatic sweep.
Little White Lies
★★★★☆ so precise and delicate, you won’t notice the gear-changes.
Empire Magazine
★★★★☆ This is a supremely confident piece of film-making.
Observer (UK)
★★★★☆ Few recent films have demanded to be seen in a cinema as much as this Japanese heartbreaker.
The Times (UK)
In this quiet masterpiece, Hamaguchi considers grief, love, work and the soul-sustaining, life-shaping power of art.
The New York Times
…a masterpiece – haunting and true, melancholy and wise.
LA Times
Adapted from a story.. by Haruki Murakami, this highbrow road movie is an absorbing, technically assured piece of work with poetic depths and novelistic ambitions.
Hollywood Reporter
…a masterpiece, a mysteriously enthralling creation that keeps you guessing about where it’s going, then reveals its essence with astonishing clarity.
Wall Street Journal
The movie is tender like a rainstorm.
Time Magazine
From such a minor premise does a mighty film grow, one so absorbing and enigmatic..
Toronto Star
The one film that demands to be seen on a big screen this year.
Globe and Mail
The film’s essence is the continuity of art and life, and the playwright’s reflections merge with the characters’ confessional monologues to fill cityscapes and rural vistas with their grand passion.
The New Yorker
Hidetoshi Shinomiya’s cinematography makes a trip to the dump look poetic. The entire ensemble is remarkable.
Irish Times
..a rich, skilfully layered masterwork with flawless performances and a script that is a screenwriter’s holy grail.
The Playlist
.. a hell of a ride, the red Saab riding through the landscape like a beating heart, taking viewers along a journey that they won’t soon forget.
Slash Film
I can’t think of any contemporary directors who have this much care and patience in creating illuminating characters like Hamaguchi.
Screen Anarchy
A perfect amalgamation of mood and meditation.
The Indian Express