Hello all,
My ultimate Oscar pick, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car, is out now on HBO Max. It’s a gripping film that explores love and loss in its own quiet way, at once intense and intimate. In an interview with the New York Times, Parasite director Bong Joon-ho compares the Japanese masterpiece to “the sound of a bell that resonates for a long time,” and as with all things, he’s exactly right.
Bong’s endless praise for Hamaguchi also got me thinking about their obvious parallels. Like Parasite before it, Drive My Car is nominated for Best Picture, Best International Feature, and Best Director at this year’s Oscars. What if Drive My Car repeats Parasite’s wins? That would be unprecedented for non-English cinema, but of course thoroughly welcome.
I hope you have a good weekend!
OUR TOP TV SHOW OF THE WEEK
As We See It
The first season is on Amazon Prime 🍅 rating: 93%
There’s so much to love about the Amazon Prime original As We See It. As the title suggests, it centers on the perspectives of its three leads: Jack, Violet, and Harrison, twenty-something roommates who happen to be on the autism spectrum.
Along with their caretaker Mandy and a small but loving group of friends and family, they embark on a journey of self-improvement that is sometimes heartwarming, sometimes heartbreaking, but always funny and kind.
It’s an underrated, enjoyable gem of a show, and quite digestible too since it only runs for eight episodes. (Another lovely tidbit: the lead actors identify as autistic themselves, which is a win for representation in my book.)
OUR TOP MOVIE OF THE WEEK
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