Plot Intro
Elderly Jewish Daisy Werthan (Jessica Tandy) is struggling to drive safely in her old age. Daisy’s son, Boolie (Dan Aykroyd) insists on employing a chauffeur in the form of Hoke Colburn (Morgan Freeman). Although initially hostile towards the idea of being driven around, Daisy and Hoke’s friendship grows and blossoms as the years go on.
With the advent of 1989, we are officially into my lifetime, hurrah! And what better way to celebrate this than with some lashings of mid-20th century racism? Driving Miss Daisy has a similar atmosphere to Terms of Endearment. It focuses on two specific characters, follows their trials and tribulations over an extended period of time, dissects their characters in excruciating detail with a few well-timed monologues, and most importantly, there are flowers. Lots and lots of flowers. My God, the '80s loved flowers.
But where Daisy triumphs over the dreary, slow-moving humourlessness of Endearment is in its focus on one particular theme: racism. Interestingly, there are no scenes of racist confrontation, violence or a particularly high level of tension. Indeed, one might complain that the film shies away far too much. But it touches on it in deeply subtle ways. Daisy and Hoke are suddenly under slightly more scrutiny from the police when they cross the border from Georgia to the more Medieval Alabama; minor looks and background reactions abound; the affinity Hoke has with Daisy’s maid Idella; and Daisy finds out that her synagogue has been bombed, but we never see the event nor the ruins. There is a sense that Daisy lives a sheltered life herself while Hoke has seen much more, that somewhere not far but still distant from this world of hydrangeas and white picket fences, there are acts of unspeakable hatred and violence. This makes the relationship between the two main characters all the sweeter because they are symbolically clinging to each other within a warmer, safer shell than the neighbouring states.
The downside is that the film probably goes a little too far with this. By the end, no real climax has been met. Indeed, their friendship meets no snags from about a third of the way in, there’s no villain, no real impetus at all. The whole thing is a series of vignettes showing their relationship over time- it’s basically a truncated, mild-mannered soap opera. My esteemed friend and fellow-viewer, Shona, pointed out that this is actually refreshing. Racism is dealt with not through hard-hitting drama but through a tender and genuine bond between two seemingly different people. As true as this is, I was still wishing for that one set-piece event that would create a dilemma, or at least send the storyline into unpredictable territory. But it never happens, and Driving Miss Daisy’s tone is just as soppy as a majority of the '80s.
The film hangs on a spectacular performance from Jessica Tandy, however. At 81, she remains the oldest recipient of the Best Actress Oscar, and she deserves it for this. There are moments where she breaks out into monologue that feel spontaneous and I hung on her every word; her comic timing was on point throughout, and there were many sassy finger-clicks made at her cantankerous put-downs. The permanently-50-year-old Freeman is great too, but Tandy steals the show, and saves the film’s hesitancy to increase the drama.
Driving Miss Daisy ends the '80s well. While it steers dangerously close to the triteness of Terms of Endearment and Out of Africa, it is saved by a stronger focus, a sweet nature, and an inspirational central performance from Tandy. And also the fact that it doesn’t overdo itself at a mere 95 minutes.
Highlight
Daisy gives a beautiful monologue about her childhood whilst on a roadtrip to Alabama. This scene is immediately followed by the approach of two very unpleasant cops. They do nothing more than check their paperwork, but the juxtaposition of Daisy’s tender trip down memory lane, and the cop’s obvious attempt to find an excuse to arrest or beat up Hoke is gripping
Lowlight
The film steers clear of shocking or surprising its audience. As sweet as it is, someone had to get brutally murdered or abducted by aliens or something to elevate this above TV movie status.
Mark
7/10
Driving Miss Daisy ends the ‘80s as a film that suitably sums up the whole decade of Best Picture winners. It’s a slow-moving, emotion-ridden thing, spanning decades with inexplicable jump cuts across years, and it’s full of flowers! So many flowers!
I wonder why the ‘80s film-makers were so obsessed with nature? Out of Africa springs to mind, with hundreds of scenes of beautiful gardens, and certainly Terms of Endearment had plenty of outside scenes. Perhaps it was an antidote to the grey, urban grit of the ‘70s, but ultimately it feels a bit niche, rooting the films firmly in the ‘80s.
I wasn’t impressed with the film itself. It deals with racism and anti-semitism, but far, far too lightly, and the real subject seems to be an unlikely friendship. But if the film was really centred around friendship, then there should be a scene where that friendship is at the very least challenged. The closest we get to that is a moment when Hoke turns on Miss Daisy after she half-heartedly invites him in to see Martin Luther King speak at a dinner. And this is dealt with briefly in a scene and then moved on from.
So what’s good about this film? For me it wasn’t Freeman, who turns in a decent performance as Hoke, but he does waver on the edge of obsequiousness. He appears to be playing the stereotype, with a high pitched giggle and an awful lot of tugging the forelock. I understand this is how the character might have been, but it’s hard to imagine this film being made now with that same interpretation - put simply, it feels awkward, as if someone animated a golliwog cartoon. Freeman does develop the role through the film, but there’s a lot of moments that felt awkwardly played for laughs at the beginning.
Jessica Tandy on the other hand is tremendous. One gets the feeling she gripped onto the script the moment they gave it to her and never relinquished it, so great is her enjoyment and superb delivery of her several monologues. And as Miss Daisy ages and decays, Tandy shows the slow falling apart of Miss Daisy with sensitivity and power - something we saw with Joan Chen as Wanrong in The Last Emperor too. It’s a fantastic performance and Tandy balances the emotion of this strong, isolated woman against the sheer comedy of the role. Marvellous work.
Highlight
The same as Paul’s! The sheer softness with which Tandy delivers a monologue about how she visited the lake when she was young is a beautiful, gentle moment in a ever-moving film.
Lowlight
Why do film-makers decide to jump years at a time and not tell the audience till halfway through the next scene? It’s very confusing.
Mark
7/10
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