Driveways (2019) : Brief Review -

Closing the gap between different states of life circle - boyhood, manhood and old-age through a simple bond of neighborhood. Driveways is a beautiful film for all ages, even for those who don't understand subtle theories of filmmaking. Someone who understand deep thoughts told without any dialogues in cinema will find it extraordinary for sure. It tells the story of a woman who has come to the house of her late sister to pack it up and prepare it for sale. While there, her young son strikes up a friendship with an elderly widower living next door. This neighborhood bond isn't a new thing, we have seen it before and we'll see it more often but here in Driveways it has quite different perspectives. A 9 years old boy befriending an old man isn't a new thing i guess (spare me if I'm wrong) and it uses their age factors very smarty at the end. It was like, you know a conversation between boyhood and old-age about manhood which is a future for boyhood and a past for aged one. One recalls the memories and feels like he hasn't lived enough and the other one has time to live but isn't enjoying it. These things had me spellbounded. I'm not sure every viewer will get the same meaning as me, they might understand something different according to their age group and experiences about life as they would be finding themselves in one of the characters. All three leading actors Hong Chau as Kathy, Lucas Jaye as Cody and Brian Dennehy as Del delivers natural performances. The screenplay is little slow but it has short runtime of 80 minutes so i don't think it should bother you. But it comes to the point very late, i mean like last 5 minutes so you must hold yourself before that. Andrew Ahn has made an excellent human drama that teaches you a lot about life-circle. It's short but still good enough.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

A sweet if somewhat underdeveloped drama about people working quietly through momentous life changes.

Hong Chau plays a woman who visits her recently deceased sister's house to clean it out and get it ready for sale. Once there, she finds out that her sister was a hoarder, which leads her to realize how little she knew about her. Meanwhile, her sister's elderly next door neighbor, played by Brian Dennehy, befriends her young son, who otherwise is an awkward kid not prone to socializing much with anyone.

"Driveways" is very short and to the point. I admired its economy of story telling even as I felt that it could have fleshed out its characters and scenarios a bit more. It's a compliment to the film, I guess, that I wanted more of it.

Christine Ebersole has a small role as a nosy neighbor, and though I generally like her as an actress, her caricature of an oblivious rural American felt out of place in a film otherwise notable for its understatement.

Grade: A-

Driveways (2019) was directed by Andrew Ahn. It's story about a difficult situation transformed into something positive because of people being willing to help and trust each other.

Hong Chau portrays Kathy, a single mom. She travels from Michigan to Upstate New York to clean the home of her recently deceased sister. She learns that her sister was a hoarder and the house is a disaster.

Kathy has a nine-year-old son, Cody, portrayed by Lucas Jaye. Cody is a good kid, but he's sensitive to loud noises, and doesn't make friends easily.

Brian Dennehy plays Del, the next door neighbor. He's a Korean war veteran who sits quietly on his porch, and hangs out with his buddies at the VFW. He and Cody bond, which seems natural in the movie.

Kathy and Cody are Asian-America. I wonder if they're supposed to be Korean-Americans. That would be an interesting twist, because Del fought in Korea.

The movie proceeds in an interesting and quiet way. No car chases, no dramatics, no disasters. Driveways is a solid narrative film with great acting, especially by Lucas Jaye, who is a star child actor.

The movie was offered virtually by Rochester's excellent Little Theatre. It worked well on the small screen. The film has a solid 7.4 IMDb rating. I thought it was even better than that, and rated it 9.