Drama
American
1989 · Directed by Bruce Beresford · 99 min
Atlanta, 1948. A strong-willed elderly Jewish widow, no longer trusted behind the wheel, is made to accept a hired driver, a quiet Black man looking for steady work. A small, gently comic chamber piece about two stubborn people sharing a car across many years.
Why it matters in cinema history
A characteristic late-1980s Oscar drama: modest in scale, driven by acting, and dealing with the American South through intimate comedy rather than confrontation. It also became a reference point in later debates about how Hollywood portrays race.
Watch with intention
Watch it as a study of how two people communicate through status, habit and silence, while the era's larger events stay mostly at the edges.
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