Driveways (2020)
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Driveways Movie Review
Driveways is a 2020 indie drama film directed by Andrew Ahn and starring Hong Chau and Brian Dennehy. It’s a sweet, but overly understated flick.
A lonely boy goes with his mother to help clean out his late aunt’s house and forms an unlikely friendship with the neighbor who is a war veteran. The movie’s plot is way too simple. It works overall, but sometimes I wished for more plot points and details, especially as it pertains to character development which seriously suffered from this approach.
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Hong Chau is wonderful in the role of the mother. She is very memorable, very realistic above all else and probably the highlight of the movie, both the character and the actress. Brian Dennehy is also very strong in his moving, wonderful role that unfortunately proved out to be his last due to his death in the beginning of this year. As for the kid, I found Lucas Jaye perfectly solid in the role, especially for a child, and the little one is so cute and relatable, but ultimately underwritten just as is everyone in this movie.
I liked the friendship that forms between the two of them quite a bit. However, it was also a tad rushed and there wasn’t much there to begin with as they only get a couple of scenes here and there. Again, their sequences are all excellent, but overly sparse at the end of the day.
Driveways is a gentle movie that benefits from very strong cinematography and a particularly evocative, moving and charming score that works wonders at hooking you in the story against its decidedly slow pace that kills any momentum that the movie could garner at any time. The direction is fine, but could have been better. The movie not being manipulative in emotion was commendable, but ultimately that level of subtleness also hurt it in my book.
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Driveways is a very understated flick for better and for worse. It’s very sweet and evocative in its score, very well acted by its talented cast and also quite touching in a couple of scenes, but its simplicity and subtleness hurt it in the long run, especially as it pertains to characterization.
