Over the course of Summer in upstate New York, introverted Cody (Lucas Jaye) is taken by his mother Kathy (Hong Chau) to clean the house of his deceased estranged aunt before selling it. As the two clean the house which is filled with junk from hoarding, Cody and Cathy befriend an elderly neighbor, Del (Brian Dennehy), who welcomes the two and develops a friendship with them.
Driveways is the sophomore feature of director Andrew Ahn. After Ahn had successfully debuted with his semi-autobiographical film Spa Night that he had partially funded through Kickstarter, Ahn sought to make his next movie an intimate family drama not written by him as not to retread the thematic material of his debut film. Driveways while completed in 2019, was not released until May 2020 where it had a special resonance with audiences due to the fact that it was released during the height of the first wave of the Covid pandemic and its themes of neighborhood interaction and community hit especially hard, and it was also the first of a number of films Brian Dennehy had made to be released after his passing a month prior to release. The movie received solid reviews for the performances of Chau, Jaye, and Dennehy, and rightly so because the movie continues Ahn's streak as a director and serves as an excellent final (kind of) showcase of Dennehy as an actor.
The movie is at its core a slice of life predominantly experienced from Cody's point of view. Lucas Jaye shows excellent screen presence as child who's going through a confusing time as he and his mother clear out the house of an aunt he never met and had been living with an untreated mental illness compelling her to hoard. For anyone who remembers having a relative die be it a grandparent or someone else, you know how daunting the process can be for closing the book on the affairs of the departed and the movie conveys that quite effectively from a child's eye understanding of it. Hong Chau is also quite good in the film as single mother Kathy who struggles with keeping up financially and also is conflicted about her sister as they'd had a falling out that lead to their estrangement. Chau has a moment in the film expressing regret at not knowing how her sister was living and it's quite heartbreaking. Brian Dennehy was a fine actor with a lengthy body of work across film and television, and Driveways served as an appropriate send off to the legcied actor with a strong showcase of his talent and charisma.
Driveways is a solid slice of life drama that continues Andrew Ahn's growth as a director as he tackles a less personally attached project but still manages to capture that feeling of "real life" that struck a chord with audiences in Spa Night. Hong Chau, Lucas Jaye, and Brian Dennehy make for solid and likable leads and it gives emotional insight into these experiences we've had ourselves.
Driveways is the sophomore feature of director Andrew Ahn. After Ahn had successfully debuted with his semi-autobiographical film Spa Night that he had partially funded through Kickstarter, Ahn sought to make his next movie an intimate family drama not written by him as not to retread the thematic material of his debut film. Driveways while completed in 2019, was not released until May 2020 where it had a special resonance with audiences due to the fact that it was released during the height of the first wave of the Covid pandemic and its themes of neighborhood interaction and community hit especially hard, and it was also the first of a number of films Brian Dennehy had made to be released after his passing a month prior to release. The movie received solid reviews for the performances of Chau, Jaye, and Dennehy, and rightly so because the movie continues Ahn's streak as a director and serves as an excellent final (kind of) showcase of Dennehy as an actor.
The movie is at its core a slice of life predominantly experienced from Cody's point of view. Lucas Jaye shows excellent screen presence as child who's going through a confusing time as he and his mother clear out the house of an aunt he never met and had been living with an untreated mental illness compelling her to hoard. For anyone who remembers having a relative die be it a grandparent or someone else, you know how daunting the process can be for closing the book on the affairs of the departed and the movie conveys that quite effectively from a child's eye understanding of it. Hong Chau is also quite good in the film as single mother Kathy who struggles with keeping up financially and also is conflicted about her sister as they'd had a falling out that lead to their estrangement. Chau has a moment in the film expressing regret at not knowing how her sister was living and it's quite heartbreaking. Brian Dennehy was a fine actor with a lengthy body of work across film and television, and Driveways served as an appropriate send off to the legcied actor with a strong showcase of his talent and charisma.
Driveways is a solid slice of life drama that continues Andrew Ahn's growth as a director as he tackles a less personally attached project but still manages to capture that feeling of "real life" that struck a chord with audiences in Spa Night. Hong Chau, Lucas Jaye, and Brian Dennehy make for solid and likable leads and it gives emotional insight into these experiences we've had ourselves.