Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Japanese drama Drive My Car has won the FIPRESCI Grand Prix for best film of 2022, awarded by the members of the International Federation of Film Critics.
Drive My Car premiered in Cannes last year, where it won best screenplay honors as well as the Cannes FIPRESCI prize, the start of an awards season run that peaked with it taking this year’s Oscar for best international feature.
The feature is a slow-burning drama, which unfolds largely through conversations between a playwright and his female chauffeur, and was adapted from a short story by acclaimed Japanese writer Haruki Murakami.
For the top FIPRESCI honor, Drive My Car beat out this year’s other four FIPRESCI finalists: Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza, Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog, Ruben Östlund’s 2022 Palme d’Or winner Triangle of Sadness, as well as Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World.
The FIPRESCI Grand Prix will be presented Sept. 16 at the opening gala of the 70th San Sebastian International Film Festival, with a special screening of Drive My Car planned during the event.
The International Federation of Film Critics has been presenting its annual Grand Prix honor since 1999, with previous winners including Pedro Almodóvar, Paul Thomas Anderson, Maren Ade, Michael Haneke, Aki Kaurismäki, Abdellatif Kechiche, Chloé Zhao and Richard Linklater, among others.
