In memoriam: Jan Galligan

I am posting a link to Jan Galligan's online obituary for any and all who may have known him or read the items published here that he contributed to. RIP, friend. 

-DB

Drive My Car (at Nippertown)

Hidetoshi Nishijima and Toko Miura star in Ryusuke Hamaguchi's Drive My Car.

Editor's note: In a reprise of their first collaboration in 2020, in which Jan Galligan and David Brickman discussed the film 1917 in a post at Nippertown.com, they now take a look at the highly regarded Japanese film Drive My Car, beginning with Brickman's ruminations:

One thing I like about Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car is that it asks a lot of questions. Is this movie about love, death, family history, or life itself? 

I think the creative process is the hub of the wheel in this film, around which all other themes revolve. The main character, stage actor, and theater director Yūsuke is, above all, an artist, and the film spends a great deal of time exploring his creative process, strange though the process may be.

I like how the narrative represents the power of art to comfort us amid the stress of living our lives. Even the stoic driver is ultimately moved by this power, though at the same time it nearly tears Yūsuke apart – certainly a valid point regarding art.

Few films or stories can bring those concepts home the way this one did for me.

To read the rest, click here.

DEAR DAVID / HI JAN: Brickman & Galligan discuss film

In an editorial recently published at Nippertown, David and Capital Region expat Jan Galligan discuss the film 1917 through a series of emails. The piece is also being published in print in the Puerto Rican journal En Rojo (pending translation into Spanish).

Here's a taste of their discussion:

David:

Thanks for sending your Nippertown article with your selections for The Best of 2019. We enjoyed your take on all the films being considered for the 2020 Academy Awards and agree with your selection of 1917 as one the best films of last year.

Here’s our interpretation of that Sam Mendes movie:

The first half of the film, until the main character is shot and the screen goes black (for a significantly long time) is all real, it actually happens.

The second half of the film, when he “wakes up” after that long blackout, all takes place in his imagination ... 

To read the rest, click here.