Link to the show: Young Adult Movie Ministry Vol. 2, Episode 16 on Substack
Release date: April 11, 2022
Movie of the Week
Drive My Car (2021), directed by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
[On HBO Max | Amazon | iTunes]
Who the Hosts Are This Week
Sam is reporter-at-large, editor of Forever Wars, critic for hire, and cherished automobile. Alissa is the film critic at Vox, author of the upcoming book Salty, and Uncle Vanya.
Other Mentions
- “Everyone needs a good vice” - Alissa’s is a good cocktail - she says Sam’s is Twitter, he adds plastic robot toys and comic books
- Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami - collection of short stories that Drive My Car is loosely based on
- Burning - Korean film also based on a Murakami short story
- Chekhov’s play Uncle Vanya, which is central to the movie
- The Batman, several Avengers movies - also with a 3-hour runtime
- Cold Souls - movie where Paul Giamatti plays Paul Giamatti playing Uncle Vanya on stage, directed by Sophie Barthes
- Happy Hour - another Hamaguchi film that has a 5 hour(!) run time
- Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite - the first foreign language film to win Best Picture at the Oscars
- Iron Cross - Roy Scheider’s last film, and, per Sam, a real turkey
- Shakespeare In Love - movie that beat Saving Private Ryan for best picture, and which Sam says deserved the win
What we learned today
Alissa: If you want your own spouse to be an actor in your production, you shouldn’t tell anyone that you’re married until a couple weeks in, and then invite them over for dinner for spicy Korean food.
Sam: Invite me over for spicy Korean food. Secondarily: “women drivers, am I right?”