Coda won the highest honor at this year’s Oscars, but the academy failed to recognize the true best picture of 2021: Drive My Car. Car did win an Oscar for Best International Feature Film, but that feels like a consolation prize. Films with the artistry and emotional depths of Car don’t come around every year, and it should have been more than enough for the top prize of the night.
To be fair, Car is a difficult film. The movie is subtitled, deliberately paced, and three hours long. But the payoffs at the end of the journey are worth every minute. Car tells the story of a theater director in mourning over the death of his wife who puts on a play that forces him to confront his suffering head on. However, the film is really about all of our suffering; the collective groan of humanity as we each face our trials of loss, grief, and betrayal. Coda is safe and predictable; Car is anything but. And yet, that’s exactly what makes the latter an essential work of art.
Join Jon and Tim as they discuss their Easter celebrations, the weather forecast, what they’ve been watching, Tim’s Best Picture analysis, the slap, how language connects us, the challenges of subtle acting, the backdrop of Hiroshima, loving our neighbor by listening, the importance of living authentically, the beauty of confession, how art reveals what’s under the surface, the loss of intimate communities, forgiveness after betrayal, God’s solidarity with humanity, the hope of eternity, and how to endure suffering this side of the dirt.
