Driving Miss Daisy: An Acting Triumph

I’ve always been a huge fan of Morgan Freeman. His acting ability, screen presence, and his voice (of course) combined to make him a unique actor, whose performances in such films as The Shawshank Redemption, Million Dollar Baby, and Se7en are some of the best that the world of cinema has to offer. It’s because of this reason that I get excited every time I see his name attached to another film, no matter whether the film is good or not. It’s for that reason that I decided to pop in Driving Miss Daisy, the 1989 winner for the Best Picture Oscar. After finishing it, I can happily say that this film is not just a great film but contains one of the best performances of Freeman’s career.

Taking place over a twenty five year period, the film begins in 1948 with Mrs. Daisy Werthan (Jessica Tandy), a 72 year-old Jewish widow, totals her Chrysler right outside her home in Georgia. Knowing that no insurance company will cover her, her son Boolie (Dan Aykroyd) hires a old, black driver by the name of Hoke Colburn (Morgan Freeman) to be her chauffeur. Rejecting him at first, Daisy gradually comes to accept Hoke as her driver, and the two begin a friendly relationship that is examined  over the course of the film. We see them over the course of a quarter-century, slowly growing closer as the times change around them and the both of them continue to age.

Everything in Driving Miss Daisy is quite solid, on both a technical and visceral level. On the one hand, the art direction and make up are very well done, accurately creating the changing world of Miss Daisy and Hoke through expertly crafted gradualism. Also, the musical score from Hans Zimmer is well-executed in its own right, maintaining a consistent subtlety that permeates with high quality. On the other end of the spectrum, the story and dialogue do an excellent job of transitioning the source material of the play into the film medium, keeping the emotional closeness and pacing of a stage performance while presenting it in a multi-angled medium.

What pushes this film past the boundaries of simply being good are the performances, which are fantastic across the board. Morgan Freeman plays greatly against his usual type, assimilating into his character with powerful possession that avoids false sentimentality. Jessica Tandy is highly dynamic as Miss Daisy, providing great three dimensionality to a character that could easily be broken down to the crotchety old woman stereotype. I’m also happy to say that even Dan Aykroyd does a brilliant job, breaking out of his comedic box and competently sticking true to his serious and dramatic role within the film.

All in all, it is a wonderful film that is well-handled on all plains, but especially within its performance. It is a definite must-see and a great film.