Slow and sweet and unassuming, “Driveways,” the second feature from the Korean-American director Andrew Ahn, tackles major themes in a minor key. And with little to mark its quiet accumulation of life-changing events, this small-town character study is perpetually in danger of drifting past without pulling you in.
Which would be a shame, as its performances are among the most affecting I’ve seen in quite a while. Shot in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., the film gathers together three people in various stages of transition. There’s Del (the great Brian Dennehy, who died last month), a widower and retired Korean War veteran who spends solitary days on his porch and chummy evenings playing bingo at the V.F.W. hall. The arrival next door of Kathy (Hong Chau), an Asian-American single mother, and her eight-year-old son, Cody (the delightful Lucas Jaye), doesn’t so much disrupt Del’s long-held routine as expand it in ways that will offer unexpected gifts to all three.
Kathy has come to clean out the home of her dead sister, and is shocked to discover that she has inherited a filthy hoard that includes an expired cat. While she prepares the home for sale — and processes her guilt over neglecting her estranged sibling — Cody, smart and sensitive, reads manga and avoids the rowdy neighborhood boys. With seemingly little access to his father, Cody is drawn to the gruff yet kind old man next door, and soon he and Del are forming a low-key connection.
Suffused with a sense of decline and loss, regret and letting go, “Driveways” is discreet to a fault. Devoid of anything resembling drama, the script (by Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen) is slight and allusive. No obvious political points jar the movie’s gentle rhythms, just casual reminders of all-too-common realities: the devastation caused by the 2008 financial downturn, the strain of single parenting, the feeling of not quite fitting in. Only a cast this strong could give the film weight, and both Christine Ebersole, as a racially insensitive neighbor, and Jerry Adler, as Del’s increasingly forgetful friend, make small moments memorable.
What we might remember most, perhaps appropriately, are Dennehy’s warm, weary features and rich line readings. In a lovely final monologue, Del advises Cody to avoid rushing past the experiences in life that matter, as they pass so quickly on their own. Much like the careers of beloved actors.
Driveways
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 23 minutes. Rent or buy on Amazon, iTunes and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators.
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‘Driveways’ Review: What Friends Are For - The New York Times
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