Drive My Car (film)
| Drive My Car | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Japanese | ドライブ・マイ・カー |
| Hepburn | Doraibu Mai Kā |
| Directed by | Ryusuke Hamaguchi |
| Screenplay by |
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| Based on | "Drive My Car" by Haruki Murakami |
| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Hidetoshi Shinomiya |
| Edited by | Azusa Yamazaki |
| Music by | Eiko Ishibashi |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Bitters End (Japan) |
Release dates |
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Running time | 179 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Box office | $15.2 million[1][2] |
Drive My Car (Japanese: ドライブ・マイ・カー, Hepburn: Doraibu Mai Kā) is a 2021 Japanese drama film[3] co-written and directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi dealing with the grief and loss of a middle-aged theater director following the premature death of his wife.[4] It is based on Haruki Murakami's short story of the same name from his 2014 collection Men Without Women, while taking inspiration from other stories in it.[5] The film follows Yūsuke Kafuku (played by Hidetoshi Nishijima) as he directs a multilingual production of Uncle Vanya in Hiroshima and grapples with the death of his wife, Oto.
Drive My Car had its world premiere at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d'Or and won three awards, including Best Screenplay. The film received widespread critical acclaim, with many declaring it one of the best films of 2021.[6][7][8] It earned four nominations at the 94th Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay, winning Best International Feature Film.[9][10] It is the first Japanese film nominated for Best Picture.[11] At the 79th Golden Globe Awards, the film won Best Foreign Language Film. It became the first non-English-language film to win Best Picture from all three major U.S. critics groups (the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the New York Film Critics Circle, and the National Society of Film Critics).
Plot[edit]
Actor and well-known theater director Yūsuke Kafuku is married to Oto, an attractive screenwriter. Oto conceives her stories during sex and narrates them to Yūsuke. After watching her husband in a performance of Waiting for Godot, Oto introduces Yūsuke to her frequent collaborator, a conceited young actor Kōji Takatsuki. When Yūsuke returns home early one day, he finds his wife having sex with a young man he recognizes as Kōji. He leaves silently without being noticed and does not bring it up with her. After getting into a car accident, Yusuke goes to the hospital and discovers he has glaucoma in one eye and must take prescribed eyedrops to avoid eventual blindness. His wife commiserates with him. One day, as Yūsuke is leaving for work, Oto tells him she wants to talk to him later that evening. Yūsuke returns home late to find Oto dead from a brain hemorrhage. After her funeral, Yūsuke has a breakdown while performing in Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and is unable to continue the show.
Two years later, Yūsuke accepts a residency in Hiroshima, where he will direct a multilingual adaptation of Uncle Vanya. The theater company requires that instead of driving himself that Yūsuke is to be chauffeured in his own car, a red 1987 Saab 900 Turbo. He objects at first, but relents after the reserved young female chauffeur, Misaki Watari, reveals herself to be a skilled driver. During their drives, Yūsuke and Misaki begin to bond. A day goes by and Yūsuke casts several people, including Kōji, whose career has recently been hurt by improper conduct, as Uncle Vanya despite his young age and concerns for his erratic behavior. After further consulting with his dramaturge Gong Yoon-su, Yūsuke finally makes up his mind on the complete cast. The contestants who pass the audition sign the contract and they begin rehearsing altogether.
One night, having finished with a rehearsal, Kōji asks Yūsuke for a drink in his hotel bar. It is revealed that Kōji joined the audition to play the script written by Oto and that he was jealous of Yūsuke for marrying Oto. Kōji later admits that he loved Oto but that it was unrequited love. As they're leaving, Kōji scolds someone who secretly takes a picture of him.
Another day goes by after rehearsal, Yūsuke offers Yoon-su a ride home. He returns the favor by inviting Yūsuke to dinner. Later, at Yoon-su's place, Yūsuke is surprised to find his wife turned out to be one of the contestants. On his way home after dinner, Misaki tells him about her abusive mother who taught her to drive in junior high school.
Later that night, Kōji asks Yūsuke for another drink at bar. Kōji is wondering why Yūsuke trusted him with the role and Yūsuke responds by criticizing Kōji's lack of self control. On the way out of the bar, Kōji slips away briefly to follow a man who had been taking photos of him without permission. During their drive home, Yūsuke reveals that he and Oto lost their daughter, who would have been Misaki's age, to pneumonia. The incident enabled Oto to tell a story only after having sex with Yūsuke and writing it as film scenario. He also knew of his wife's affairs but kept quiet because he believed that she still loved him in spite of those affairs. Kōji shares one of Oto's stories that Yūsuke had never heard in its entirety. Some days later, the police arrive at a rehearsal and arrest Kōji because the photographer he fought with has now died from the injuries sustained from their fight. The directors of the residency offer Yūsuke a choice: either step into the role of Vanya or cancel the play altogether. Yūsuke is given 2 days to think about it.
During that spare time, Yūsuke asks Misaki to take him to her childhood home in Hokkaido. During their car trip, Misaki reveals that she could have saved her mother in the mudslide, where she sustained an injury that left a prominent scar on her left cheek, but she chose not to. Yūsuke feels that he might have saved his wife had he come home to face the discussion she wanted to have. They arrive at the remains of Misaki's childhood home where her mother died and they sympathize with each other’s separately experienced grief in dealing with life's emotional setbacks. Yūsuke empathetically hugs her while they stand in the snow in front of the remains of Misaki's childhood home. They then return to Hiroshima, where Yūsuke assumes the role of Vanya and gives an impassioned performance before a live audience, which includes Misaki.
In the present day, Misaki finishes shopping for groceries in Korea and gets into the red Saab. A dog waits for her in the back seat. She takes off her surgical mask, revealing that her scar is now barely visible, and drives away.
Cast[edit]
- Hidetoshi Nishijima as Yūsuke Kafuku
- Tōko Miura as Misaki Watari
- Masaki Okada as Kōji Takatsuki
- Reika Kirishima as Oto Kafuku, Yusuke's wife
- Park Yu-rim as Lee Yoo-na
- Jin Dae-yeon as Gong Yoon-soo
- Sonia Yuan as Janice Chang
- Ahn Hwitae as Ryu Jeong-eui
- Perry Dizon as Roy Lucelo
- Satoko Abe as Yuhara
Production[edit]
The film is directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi. The film was originally set in Busan, South Korea, but was changed to Hiroshima due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[12]
Writing[edit]
Hamaguchi was the co-writer of the filmscript with Takamasa Oe. It is primarily based on the short story of the same name by Haruki Murakami from his 2014 short story collection, Men Without Women.[13][14] The script also features elements from Murakami's stories "Scheherazade" and "Kino" (both also part of Men Without Women).[5]
A number of departures were incorporated into the film which differed from the original plot explored in Murakami's short story of the same name which are evident from a short synopsis of the short story:
First, in the film version, the director does not have a revoked license but is told that theatre management policies require a driver to be assign to him. Also, Hamaguchi and Oe changed the narrative format of describing the marital infidelity to the actual filming of the infidelity as part of the introductory material leading up to the death of his wife, before he meets his driver. For the film version, the co-authors were reported by The New York Times as "greatly expanded on the (short) story's central dynamic, which turns on a sexist widowed actor and the much-younger female driver who motors him around in his cherished Saab."[15]
Cinematography[edit]
Cinematographer Hidetoshi Shinomiya was assigned to do the filming for the project.[16]
Set design[edit]
The original story features a yellow Saab 900 convertible, but it was changed in the film to a red Saab 900 Turbo to visually complement the Hiroshima landscape.[17]
Soundtrack[edit]
Hamaguchi wished to incorporate the Beatles' song "Drive My Car", which the film and story are named after, however it was too difficult to get permission for its usage. He instead included a string quartet piece by Beethoven, which is directly referenced in Murakami's original story.[18]
Writing for Pitchfork, Quinn Moreland wrote that the soundtrack "possesses a cool remove, mirroring the film's glacial profundity with organic nuance and contemplative improvisation."[19] Vannesa Ague of The Quietus wrote; "Ishibashi creates a narrative within the theme and variations, tracing a musical path that stands on its own."[20] Writing for PopMatters, Jay Honeycomb wrote; "Ishibashi's music washes over you when it comes, allowing the seeds planted by Hamaguchi to germinate and grow without drowning you in sentimentality."[21]
| Drive My Car Original Soundtrack | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | |
| Released | January 7, 2022 |
| Studio | Hoshi to Nijii Recording Studio, Atelier Eiko, Steamroom |
| Genre | Jazz, Pop |
| Length | 46:44 |
| Label | Newhere, Space Shower |
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Pitchfork | 8/10[19] |
| The Quietus | Favourable [20] |
The original score for Drive My Car was composed by musician Eiko Ishibashi.[22] In an interview with Variety, director Hamaguchi said; "Typically, I don't use a lot of music in my films, but hearing the music Ishibashi made was the first time I thought this could work for the film."[23]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Drive My Car" | 5:04 |
| 2. | "Drive My Car (Misaki)" | 2:27 |
| 3. | "Drive My Car (Cassette)" | 2:55 |
| 4. | "Drive My Car (The Important Thing Is to Work)" | 3:08 |
| 5. | "We'll Live Through the Long, Long Days, and Through the Long Nights" | 3:56 |
| 6. | "We'll Live Through the Long, Long Days, and Through the Long Nights (SAAB 900)" | 4:53 |
| 7. | "We'll Live Through the Long, Long Days, and Through the Long Nights (Oto)" | 5:19 |
| 8. | "Drive My Car (Kafuku)" | 3:39 |
| 9. | "Drive My Car (The Truth, No Matter What It Is, Isn't That Frightening)" | 2:07 |
| 10. | "We'll Live Through the Long, Long Days, and Through the Long Nights (And When Our Last Hour Comes We'll Go Quietly)" | 5:01 |
| 11. | "Drive My Car (Hiroshima)" | 2:47 |
| 12. | "We'll live through the long, long days, and through the long nights (different ways)" | 5:23 |
| Total length: | 46:44 | |
Music personnel[edit]
- Eiko Ishibashi : Piano, Rhodes, Synth, Flutes, Electronics, Melodion, Vibraphone
- Jim O'Rourke : A.Guitar, E.Guitar, Pedal Steel, Guitar, Bass, Vibraphone
- Tatsuhisa Yamamoto : Drums, Percussion
- Marty Holoubek : A.Bass, E.Bass (Track 1,2,4,8)
- Toshiaki Sudoh : E. Bass (Track 5,10)
- Atsuko Hatano : Violin, Viola [25]
Release[edit]
Drive My Car had its world premiere at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival in competition for the Palme d'Or.[26][27]
Box office[edit]
As of 8 April 2022, Drive My Car has grossed $2.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $12.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $14.7 million.[2]
In the United States, the film had grossed $944,000 at the time of its Oscar nominations on February 8, 2022. Between then and March 20, it grossed $1.15 million (a 122% increase), for a running total of $2.1 million.[28]
Home media[edit]
The DVD and Blu-ray versions of the film were released on July 19, 2022 in the USA, was released in the library of Criterion Collection films.[29]
Critical response[edit]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 97% based on 210 reviews, with an average rating of 8.6/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Drive My Car's imposing runtime holds a rich, patiently engrossing drama that reckons with self-acceptance and regret."[30] According to Metacritic, which assigned a weighted average score of 91 out of 100 based on 42 critics, the film received "universal acclaim".[31]
The film received a positive review from Manohla Dargis in The New York Times, where she wrote, "Drive My Car sneaks up on you, lulling you in with visuals that are as straightforward as the narrative is complex."[3] Writing for The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw gave the film five stars out of five and called it an "engrossing and exalting experience".[32]
Metacritic reported that Drive My Car appeared on over 89 film critics' top-ten lists for 2021, the most of any foreign-language film that year, and ranked first or second on 23 lists.[33]
Carlos Aguilar found the cinematography of the film to be exceptional, stating that: "Bountiful in subtle imagery from cinematographer Hidetoshi Shinomiya, the film mines majestic visual symbolism from seemingly ordinary occurrences. Take for example a shot of Yûsuke and Misaki's hand through the car's sunroof holding cigarettes as to not let the smoke permeate their sacred mode of transportation—an unspoken communion of respect."[16]
Accolades[edit]
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The film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival where it won three awards including Best Screenplay.[34] Hamaguchi and Oe became the first Japanese individuals to win the Best Screenplay Award at Cannes.[35] At the 79th Golden Globe Awards, the film won Best Foreign Language Film.[36]
It was picked as the Japanese entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards, making the December 2021 shortlist.[37][38] It was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for Hamaguchi, Best Adapted Screenplay for Hamaguchi and co-screenwriter Takamasa Oe, and Best International Feature Film, winning the latter award.[39][40] It was the first Japanese film nominated for Best Picture,[41] and Hamaguchi became the third Japanese director nominated for Best Director since Hiroshi Teshigahara in 1965 and Akira Kurosawa in 1985.[42]
It became the latest (and the first non-English-language film) of the only six to win Best Picture from all three major U.S. critics groups (LAFCA, NYFCC, NSFC), the other five being Goodfellas, Schindler's List, L.A. Confidential, The Social Network and The Hurt Locker.
===
Uncle Vanya
| Uncle Vanya | |
|---|---|
 Konstantin Stanislavski as Astrov in the Moscow Art Theatre production in 1899. | |
| Written by | Anton Chekhov |
| Original language | Russian |
| Setting | Garden of the Serebryakov family estate |
Uncle Vanya (Russian: Дя́дя Ва́ня, tr. Dyádya Ványa, IPA: [ˈdʲædʲə ˈvanʲə]) is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1898, and was first produced in 1899 by the Moscow Art Theatre under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski.
The play portrays the visit of an elderly professor and his glamorous, much younger second wife, Yelena, to the rural estate that supports their urban lifestyle. Two friends—Vanya, brother of the professor's late first wife, who has long managed the estate, and Astrov, the local doctor—both fall under Yelena's spell, while bemoaning the ennui of their provincial existence. Sonya, the professor's daughter by his first wife, who has worked with Vanya to keep the estate going, suffers from her unrequited feelings for Astrov. Matters are brought to a crisis when the professor announces his intention to sell the estate, Vanya and Sonya's home, with a view to investing the proceeds to achieve a higher income for himself and his wife.
Background[edit]
Uncle Vanya is unique among Chekhov's major plays because it is essentially an extensive reworking of his own play published a decade earlier, The Wood Demon.[1] By elucidating the specific changes Chekhov made during the revision process—these include reducing the cast from almost two dozen down to nine, changing the climactic suicide of The Wood Demon into the famous failed homicide of Uncle Vanya, and altering the original happy ending into a more ambiguous, less final resolution—critics such as Donald Rayfield, Richard Gilman, and Eric Bentley have sought to chart the development of Chekhov's dramaturgical method through the 1890s.
Rayfield cites recent scholarship suggesting Chekhov revised The Wood Demon during his trip to the island of Sakhalin, a prison colony in Eastern Russia, in 1891.
Characters[edit]
- Aleksandr Vladimirovich Serebryakov (Алекса́ндр Влади́мирович Серебряко́в): a retired university professor, who has lived for years in the city on the earnings of his late first wife's rural estate, managed for him by Vanya and Sonya.
- Helena Andreyevna Serebryakova (Yelena) (Еле́на Андре́евна Серебряко́ва): Serebryakov's young and beautiful second wife. She is 27 years old.
- Sofia Alexandrovna Serebryakova (Sonya) (Со́фья Алекса́ндровна Серебряко́ва): Serebryakov's daughter from his first marriage. She is of a marriageable age, but is considered plain.
- Maria Vasilyevna Voynitskaya (Мари́я Васи́льевна Войни́цкая): the widow of a privy councilor and mother of Vanya (and of Vanya's late sister, Serebryakov's first wife).
- Ivan Petrovich Voynitsky ("Uncle Vanya") (Ива́н Петро́вич Войни́цкий): Maria's son and Sonya's uncle, the title character of the play. He is 47 years old.
- Mikhail Lvovich Astrov (Михаи́л Льво́вич А́стров): a middle-aged country doctor. His preoccupation with the destruction of forests is one of the first discussions of ecological problems in world literature.
- Ilya Ilych Telegin (Илья́ Ильи́ч Теле́гин; nicknamed "Waffles" for his pockmarked skin): an impoverished landowner, who now lives on the estate as a dependent of the family.
- Marina Timofeevna (Мари́на Тимофе́евна): an old nurse.
- A Workman
Plot[edit]
Act I[edit]
A garden on Serebryakov's country estate. Astrov and Marina discuss how old Astrov has grown and his boredom with his life as a country doctor. Vanya enters and complains of the disruption caused by the visit of the professor and his wife Yelena. As they're talking, Serebryakov, Yelena, Sonya, and Telegin return from a walk. Out of earshot of the professor, Vanya calls him "a learned old dried mackerel", criticizes his pomposity, and belittles his achievements. Vanya's mother, Maria Vasilyevna, who idolises Serebryakov, objects to her son's comments. Vanya also praises Yelena's youth and beauty, arguing that faithfulness to an old man like Serebryakov is an immoral waste of vitality. Astrov is forced to depart to attend a patient, but not before delivering a speech on the preservation of the forests, a subject he is very passionate about. Vanya declares his love to an exasperated Yelena.
Act II[edit]
The dining room, several days later, late at night. Before going to bed, Serebryakov complains of pain and old age. Astrov arrives, having been sent for by Sonya, but the professor refuses to see him. After Serebryakov falls asleep, Yelena and Vanya talk. She speaks of the discord in the house, and Vanya speaks of dashed hopes. He feels he's misspent his youth and he associates his unrequited love for Yelena with the disappointment of his life. Yelena refuses to listen. Alone, Vanya wonders why he did not fall in love with Yelena when he first met her ten years earlier, when it would have been possible for the two of them to marry and have a happy life together. At that time, Vanya believed in Serebryakov's greatness and was happy that his efforts supported Serebryakov's work; he has since become disillusioned with the professor and his life feels empty. As Vanya agonises over his past, Astrov returns, somewhat drunk, and the two talk. Sonya chides Vanya for his drinking, and responds pragmatically to his reflections on the futility of a wasted life, pointing out that only work is truly fulfilling.
Outside, a storm is gathering and Astrov talks with Sonya about the house's suffocating atmosphere; he says Serebryakov is difficult, Vanya is a hypochondriac, and Yelena is charming but idle. He laments how long it has been since he loved anyone. Sonya begs Astrov to stop drinking, telling him it is unworthy of him to destroy himself. They discuss love, and it becomes clear that Sonya is in love with him and that he is unaware of her feelings.
When Astrov leaves, Yelena enters and makes peace with Sonya, after an apparently long period of mutual antagonism. Trying to resolve their difficulties, Yelena reassures Sonya that she had strong feelings for her father when she married him, though that love has proved illusory. The two converse at cross purposes. Yelena confesses her unhappiness and Sonya gushes about Astrov. In a happy mood, Sonya leaves to ask the professor if Yelena may play the piano. Sonya returns with his negative answer, which quickly dampens the mood.
Act III[edit]
Vanya, Sonya, and Yelena are in the living room, having been called there by Serebryakov. Vanya calls Yelena a water nymph and urges her, once again, to break free. Sonya complains to Yelena that she has loved Astrov for six years but that, because she is not beautiful, he doesn't notice her. Yelena volunteers to question Astrov and find out if he's in love with Sonya. Sonya is pleased, but before agreeing she wonders whether uncertainty is better than knowledge, because then, at least, there is hope.
When Yelena asks Astrov about his feelings for Sonya, he says he has none and concludes that Yelena has brought up the subject of love to encourage him to confess his own feelings for her. Astrov kisses Yelena, and Vanya witnesses the embrace. Upset, Yelena begs Vanya to use his influence to allow her and the professor to leave immediately. Before Serebryakov can make his announcement, Yelena tells Sonya that Astrov doesn't love her.
Serebryakov proposes to solve the family's financial problems by selling the estate and investing the proceeds in a bond which will bring in a significantly higher income (and, he hopes, leave enough over to buy a villa for himself and Yelena in Finland). Angrily, Vanya asks where he, Sonya, and his mother would live, protests that the estate rightly belongs to Sonya, and that Serebryakov has never appreciated his self-sacrifice in managing the property. As Vanya's anger mounts, he begins to rage against the professor, blaming him for the failure of his life, wildly claiming that, without Serebryakov to hold him back, he could have been a second Schopenhauer or Dostoevsky. In despair, he cries out to his mother, but instead of comforting her son, Maria insists that Vanya listen to the professor. Serebryakov insults Vanya, who storms out of the room. Yelena begs to be taken away from the country and Sonya pleads with her father on Vanya's behalf. Serebryakov exits to confront Vanya further. A shot is heard from offstage and Serebryakov returns, being chased by Vanya, wielding a loaded pistol. He fires the pistol again at the professor but misses. He throws the gun down in disgust and sinks into a chair.
Act IV[edit]
As the final act opens, a few hours later, Marina and Telegin wind wool and discuss the planned departure of Serebryakov and Yelena. When Vanya and Astrov enter, Astrov says that in this district only he and Vanya were "decent, cultured men" and that ten years of "narrow-minded life" have made them vulgar. Vanya has stolen a vial of Astrov's morphine, presumably to commit suicide; Sonya and Astrov beg him to return the narcotic, which he eventually does.
Yelena and Serebryakov bid everyone farewell. When Yelena says goodbye to Astrov, she admits to having been carried away by him, embraces him, and takes one of his pencils as a souvenir. Serebryakov and Vanya make their peace, agreeing all will be as it was before. Once the outsiders have departed, Sonya and Vanya pay bills, Maria reads a pamphlet, and Marina knits. Vanya complains of the heaviness of his heart, and Sonya, in response, speaks of living, working, and the rewards of the afterlife: "We shall hear the angels, we shall see the whole sky all diamonds, we shall see how all earthly evil, all our sufferings, are drowned in the mercy that will fill the whole world. And our life will grow peaceful, tender, sweet as a caress…. You've had no joy in your life; but wait, Uncle Vanya, wait…. We shall rest."
Productions[edit]
Although the play had previous small runs in provincial theatres in 1898, its metropolitan première took place on 7 November [O.S. 26 October] 1899 at the Moscow Art Theatre. Constantin Stanislavski played the role of Astrov while Chekhov's future wife Olga Knipper played Yelena. The initial reviews were favorable but pointed to defects in both the play and the acting. As the staging and the acting improved over successive performances, however, and as "the public understood better its inner meaning and nuances of feeling", the reviews improved.[2] Uncle Vanya became a permanent fixture in the Moscow Art Theatre.
Other actors who have appeared in notable stage productions of Uncle Vanya include Michael Redgrave, Paul Scofield, Peter O'Toole, Albert Finney, Franchot Tone, Cate Blanchett, Peter Dinklage, Jacki Weaver, Antony Sher, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Simon Russell Beale, William Hurt, George C. Scott, Donald Sinden, Derek Jacobi, Michael Gambon, Tom Courtenay, Trevor Eve and Laurence Olivier.
The play was also adapted as the new stage-play Dear Uncle by the British playwright Alan Ayckbourn, who reset it in the 1930s Lake District. This adaptation premiered from July to September 2011 at the Stephen Joseph Theatre.[3]
In January 2014 24/6: A Jewish Theater Company performed TuBishVanya, a modern adaption that incorporated Jewish and environmental themes.[citation needed]
Parodies[edit]
- The Fifth Elephant, a 1999 novel by Terry Pratchett, includes a pastiche of Chekhov plays in which "the gloomy and purposeless trousers of Uncle Vanya" are loaned to Captain Vimes.[4]
- Life Sucks: Or the Present Ridiculous, a 2015 stage adaptation by Aaron Posner, premiered at Theater J in Washington, DC.[5]
- The Reduced Shakespeare Company performed a shortened version of the play on their BBC radio show in 2010 that contained only three lines:[6]
- Uncle Vanya and Zombies, a 2012 post-apocalyptic stage adaptation by Markus Wessendorf, premiered at Kennedy Theatre in Honolulu.[7][8]
Other adaptations[edit]
Over the years, Uncle Vanya has been adapted for film several times.
- Uncle Vanya, a 1957 adaptation of a concurrent Off-Broadway production that starred Franchot Tone, who co-produced and co-directed the film
- Uncle Vanya, a version of the star-studded 1962–63 Chichester Festival stage production, directed for the stage by Laurence Olivier, who played Astrov, and also starring Michael Redgrave as Vanya, Max Adrian as Professor Serebryakov, Rosemary Harris as Yelena and Olivier's wife Joan Plowright as Sonya. Harold Hobson of The Sunday Times described the Chichester production as "the admitted master achievement in British twentieth-century theatre" while The New Yorker called it "probably the best 'Vanya' in English we shall ever see".[9]
- Uncle Vanya, a 1970 Russian film version, adapted and directed by Andrei Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky.
- Uncle Vanya, a 1991 episode of the BBC Performance anthology for TV, starring Ian Holm and David Warner
- Vanya on 42nd Street, a 1994 American film version, adapted by David Mamet and directed by Louis Malle. It stars Wallace Shawn and Julianne Moore. Originally a little-known studio production, it was later adapted for the screen, where it garnered wider acclaim.
- Country Life, a 1994 Australian adaptation, set in the Outback, starring Sam Neill as the equivalent of Astrov.
- August, a 1996 English film adaptation, set in Wales, directed by and starring Anthony Hopkins in the Vanya role. Hopkins played Astrov in a BBC Play of the Month production in 1970.
- Sonya's Story, an opera adapted by director Sally Burgess, composer Neal Thornton and designer Charles Phu, portraying events in the play Uncle Vanya from the character Sonya's perspective, premiered in 2010.
- Chekhov: Fast & Furious, a multimedia theatric performance project by the Franco-Austrian performance collective Superamas which translates the themes of the “old” theatre into our time. Premiered in 2018 at the Vienna Festival in Austria.[10]
- Uncle Vanya, a recording of the interrupted 2020 run at London's Harold Pinter Theatre, adapted by Conor McPherson, starring Aimee Lou Wood, Rosalind Eleazar, Roger Allam, Toby Jones, and Richard Armitage. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was decided to bring the cast back under guidelines and film the play for release in cinemas and later on the BBC.[11]
- Morbror Vanja, a Swedish language adaptation of the play, was performed at the Åbo Svenska Teater (Turku, Finland) in 2021.[12]
- Drive My Car, a 2021 film by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, includes a production of Uncle Vanya, with the characters echoing the emotional turmoil of Chekhov's characters as they reveal their trauma and deeply complicated feelings.[13]
Awards and nominations[edit]
- Awards
- 2003 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Revival
- Nominations
- 1992 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Revival
- 2000 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Revival of a Play
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Ryan McKittrick (2008). "Moscow's First Uncle Vanya: Checkhov and the Moscow Art Theatre". American Repertory Theatre. Archived from the original on 2008-06-19. Retrieved 2008-10-13.
- ^ Simmons, Ernest (1962). Chekhov, A Biography. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. p. 486.
- ^ Alfred Hickling (2011-07-14). "Dear Uncle – review | Stage". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
- ^ "The Fifth Elephant". terrypratchettbooks.com. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
- ^ John Stoltenberg, "Review: Life Sucks at Theater J", DC Metro Theater Arts, 20 January 2015
- ^ "Uncle Vanya (Abridged)". Unveiling Vanya. Middlebury College Russian Department. 16 April 2011. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
- ^ "On the Mainstage at Kennedy Theatre – the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa". www.hawaii.edu. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
- ^ Ryan Senaga (2012-11-10). "Review: 'Uncle Vanya' an unexpected charmer". Honolulu Pulse. Retrieved 2013-05-01.
- ^ Quotes taken from the VHS recording issued by Arthur Cantor Films, New York.
- ^ "Home- Wiener Festwochen". www.festwochen.at.
- ^ "Filmed recording of West End Uncle Vanya with Richard Armitage and Toby Jones to be released in cinemas and broadcast on BBC". www.whatsonstage.com. 4 September 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
- ^ "Morbror Vanja - Åbo Svenska Teater". abosvenskateater.fi. Retrieved 2021-09-20.
- ^ Laman, Douglas (23 December 2021). "How 'Drive My Car' Uses a Classic Play to Illuminate Its Characters' Inner Lives". Collider. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
Further reading[edit]
- Chekhov, Anton (1916) [1899]. Uncle Vanya: Scenes from Country Life. Marian Fell (trans.) (Tenth ed.). Salt Lake City: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved 2008-10-13.
External links[edit]
Uncle Vanya public domain audiobook at LibriVox- Uncle Vanya at the Internet Broadway Database
- Productions in Theatre Archive, University of Bristol
- Full text of Uncle Vanya (in Russian)
- Uncle Vanya program note from 1957 San Francisco International Film Festival
- Full English translation via the Gutenberg Project
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