The 30-year-old Saab 900 Turbo Won an Oscar

As many film and film experts have suggested, the Japanese movie “Drive My Car“, which won the Best Screenplay Award at Cannes, won the first Japanese Oscar for Best Picture, with a 30-year-old red Saab 900 Turbo in one of the supporting ( major) roles.

Based on famous short story

“Drive My Car” is the Japanese film from 2021 that has united film critics around the world and recommended it to viewers. After the film was nominated for an Oscar in four categories, including the one for best movie, the spotlight is now on one of the film’s more unpredictable supporting actors – a red Saab 900 Turbo with thirty years on its neck.

For those who have not heard,, “Drive My Car” is based on a short story of the same name written by the famous Japanese author Haruki Murakami.

Road-Movie Drama

In the film directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, who also wrote the script, we get to follow the famous actor and director Yusuke Kafuku, played by Hidetoshi Nishijima, in his mourning work after his wife’s unexpected death.

To dispel thoughts, Kafuku jumps on a job offer as a director for a stage production of Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” in Hiroshima. Here he is introduced to Misaki Watari, played by Toko Miura. A young, quiet woman who has been commissioned by the production to act as driver for the famous actor in his red Saab 900.

It will be the prelude to an emotional journey where the main character Kafuku is forced to face his demons from the past. Also a road movie about love, loss and forgiveness.

The Best International Feature Film

A recipe for success that has so far won three awards at the Cannes Film Festival 2021, including the one for best screenplay. The film has also topped a number of critics’ lists and won a BAFTA for best foreign film. Prior to the Oscars on March 27 this year, there was a chance to win as many as four Oscars, including a prestigious statuette for Best Picture of the Year, which would be the first in Japan. Still, there weren’t four Oscars, but one – but worth it – Japanese drama “Drive My Car ” won the Academy Award on Sunday for best international feature film.

So how did a thirty-year-old Saab 900 become part of an award-winning film project?

When CNN asks the question to the Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi, he describes the choice of the red Saab as instinctive. Over thirty years old and in perfect condition, the car simply appeared to be perfect.

This despite the fact that the car in Haruki Murakami’s original short story was actually a yellow Saab convertible. Something that the director had already written off because a convertible makes sound recording more difficult, writes CNN.

It was when an employee whose task was to produce the film’s vehicle appeared on the set with his private red Saab that the pieces fell into place and Hamaguchi decided. “It almost feels like the best casting I’ve ever done,” Hamaguchi told CNN.