This Screening is part of the Maverick Spirit Event with Hong Chau. Purchase a Driveways screening ticket here to attend the Spirit Event.
Director Andrew Ahn's highly anticipated follow-up to the multi-award winning Spa Night is a funny, touching ode to the power and the importance of friendship, companionship, and compassion.
Cody (Lucas Jaye, Fuller House) is a sweet, sensitive boy who doesn't always fit in easily with other kids his age. He's not bothered by spending the summer in an unfamiliar New York town while his mother, Kathy (Hong Chau, Downsizing), cleans out the house left behind by his recently deceased aunt, trying to ready it for sale. As Kathy, who'd been estranged from her reclusive sister for years, learns how much she didn't know about the late woman, Cody strikes up a surprising friendship with the gruff Del (Brian Dennehy, Cocoon), who lives next door. Del is a Korean War vet who's been whiling away his days living alone, playing bingo with his pals, and sitting out on his porch. As their friendship grows-and with Del's encouragement-Cody develops the courage to come out of his shell and, along with his mother, maybe find a new place to call home.
The special bond between a shy child and a reclusive elderly neighbor has been the subject for suburban dramas for many years, often with mixed results. But in the hands of Korean-American director Andrew Ahn, this tale uses a subtle and nuanced approach to let the characters evolve in unexpected ways. Driveways appears to be a quiet, uncomplicated drama about a boy befriending an old man, but slowly reveals its probing commentary on racism, immigration, generational conflicts, and sexual orientation in modern-day America.