Driveways is as
well a film about cleaning out. In its literally meaning it is about
cleaning out the house of a deceased person but it is also about
cleaning out the troubled soul for facing the future or for coming to
terms with the own life.
The film is also about the
crossing of different path of life. One path is very close to its
end, the other is halfway on this path, another just begins.
Kathy, an Asian-American
woman (Hong Chau) and her 8 years old son Cody are on a road trip to
the house of her elder sister who just passed away. The sisters lost
contact for many years.The house has to be cleaned out for selling
it. When they arrive, electricity is switched off and the house is
full packed with things, most of them look like junk. It is one of
these heartbreaking moments everyone experiences in life. Things,
souvenirs etc. loose the meaning when its owner is no more, they are
disconnected from a soul who has gone. What we learn about the story
of Cody and Cathy, we learn only through small hints. We encounter
them here and now. Kathy is a troubled woman, troubled by her
difficult relationship with the deceased sister and probably by men.
Once she phones with a man, a boyfriend or even Cody´s father – we
do not know for sure. Cody is a sensitive but frightened boy. For
mother and son, the future is a catalogue of questions, how to make a
living for her and the child, where to live, to sell the inherited
house or not. Cody encounters the old neighbour Del, a military
veteran played by the wonderful Brian Dennehy who is still warm in my
memory after his performance in Terrence Malick´s Knight of Cups.
Their gradual approach belongs to the wonders of this film. Del still
mourns the loss of his wife who passed away years ago and he develops
very soon a friendship with the young boy. All those protagonists
exist in the Here and Now but there is as well the almost phantasmal
presence of their history and their identity as human beings whose
complexity and lifetime appears as far beyond the 88 film minutes.
With other friends, Del
plays bingo in a club for war veterans. Some of his pals show already
signs of dementia. Soon Del has to leave his home because his
daughter, a judge will take him to her house to take care of him. At
the same time Cody and his mother are close to the decision to keep
the house instead of selling it. The one has to leave his home,
others are just close to find one.
Even though the film is
also telling about abandoned houses, Driveways is a film I
felt at home with just after the first minutes. Sometimes it looks
like a Road Movie made by Ozu. Even though structured in every day
episodes with a seeming lightness, there is a quite melancholic
undertone of caducity. Andrew Ahn accomplishes a glimpse of eternity
in a very subtle way and with heart warming compassion.
Driveways is at the
same time a film about farewell. Two currents are crossing each
other. A life path which is very close to its end and another one
which just begins.
Life and Death are present
and sometimes in the same shot. In house of the deceased aunt, the
boy finds a corpse of a cat. When Cody says that he likes to visit
Del in the faraway Seattle, the old man answers that it is a very
long way there is the notion of Del´s death in the near future.
The porch is a transition
between the public part of a house and the more private rooms. A lot
of scenes take place on such a porch. It is near the end when on
Del´s porch an incredible beautiful and moving scene will take
place. Del tells about his late wife about his regrets in his long
life. It is not just a very tender moment, the whole film becomes in
such moments tenderness and compassion itself.
When Cody and Del are
sitting in front of the door, we see them from behind and we follow
their glances into the environment, the settlement surrounded by
trees. It is a contemplative enchanting shot. We do not only see but
we see also people who are looking at something like to an invisible
screen. As they are framed it emphasizes also cinema as a fragment of
what we call world. Driveways, this little miracle of
Independent cinema celebrates life and cinema at the same time.
Rüdiger Tomczak
Screenings:
13.February, 10.00 Haus
der Kulturen der Welt
17.February, 10.00
Cinemaxx 3
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