Learning to Drive (2014)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Learning to Drive is a metaphor for life as Wendy learns how to live life as a Divorce woman and Ben Kingsley learns to live life in an arrange marriage.That was my favorite part of the movie. There is a part of the world were arrange marriages are an average part of life and the movie respects that lifestyle.Learning to drive also showed how being harassed for the way you chose to live your life (without bothering others) is a natural part of life as well. I'm indifferent about my feelings on that but I can relate.Ben Kingsley gives a stellar performance here. Not sure if it would be as recognized like what he did in Gandi or anything like that but it's one of those performances that proves he's a worthy actor.Like Patricia Clarkson in the movie too. What the character was going though was real and down to earth and she made it feel that organic.Just an amazing movie done with some good actors.

"Learning to Drive" is a small film. It's a total chick flick about rather ordinary people with fairly mundane problems. It doesn't offer any momentous insights into the human condition or any brilliant morals about the meaning of life and our purpose on this planet. It is somewhat familiar and fairly predictable with a by-the-numbers structure. It does leave several loose strings lying about. There's a subplot and theme about immigration and xenophobia that adds little and goes nowhere in particular, although it does make Darwan's life seem more multifaceted. There's a romantic subplot involving a banker that seems like it might be an important plot development, but fizzles out. There's an unexpected proclamation of love that doesn't feel earned. Wendy gives Darwan advice that we expect him to accept in some demonstrable manner, but he never does. After suffering several significant financial setbacks, Darwan surrenders one source of income. Patricia Clarkson does a really good job with the role. However, the characters seem a little unbalanced in terms of the ages of the actors and the timeline of the story. At fifty-six, Clarkson plays a woman who has been married twenty-one years to a guy played by an actor five years her junior who looks like he might be in his mid-forties and has a daughter played by a twenty-nine-year-old actress. The actors don't fit the ages of the characters they portray very well, which is distracting despite solid performances. Production values are adequate. There are quite a few shots of actors driving cars and they never seem unrealistic. A few jiggly-cam shots are slightly distracting, but they actually seemed to use a tripod or other camera mount for other shots. A few edits are abrupt and distracting. In general the production values are adequate. My greatest frustration is the lack of a solid moral. Although it is an unabashed chick flick, the moral seems a bit anti-feminist at times. Girls, if you want to keep your men interested, get off your butts, improve yourselves and be more adventurous in the bedroom. And buy some sexy underwear. Overall, a modest production unlikely to stir strong feelings in any direction. It's not very funny or very dramatic. But it offers a seemingly realistic view into the lives of some very ordinary people.

I find this movie is surprisingly charming. It's a story we can relate to. Things happened in our everyday lives which might not be significant enough to draw attentions to. However, they touched a bit of our unintended emotions. It even took on lightly challenging subjects like racism, depression, rages and religions which all transpired smoothly into the storyline with some humors even.The story of middle aged women divorcing from their long time husbands is not a fresh subject after all. Nevertheless, most people probably could even care less of it. However, the success of this movie is it used this overly done subject and given a new lease of life. In the beginning, I was not too sure to watch it. To my own surprise, I am glad that I gave it a shot when I finished it. Lives can serve you bitter dishes, how to turn them around it's entirely up to you. The middle aged romance is no longer involving carnal desires and emotional longing. It steers the directions to work out your own issues and hold up your end of responsibilities.Patricia and Ben Kingsley did convincing performances for their roles. This movie reminded me of "Lost in Translations". I think they both share the subtleties of wordless emotions. We don't need thunderbolts and lighting to make memorable films. We need is slowly riveting awareness and self assured triumphs. Maybe I am old.

I agree with the positive reviews of this movie, especially the acting performances of Patricia Clarkson and Ben Kingsley. It's too bad that the story doesn't ask too much of Sarita Choudoury as she's capable of more. It's just great to see that older actors aren't left out of the rom-com genre but that's likely one reason why this movie isn't more popular. There may be some expectation out there that love happens only when one is under 30. When love overcomes age as well as cultural and religious barriers we tend to ask "How did that happen". Instead we should sit back and watch how it develops in Learning to Drive.The other reason Learning to Drive may not be popular is that we somehow expect that love must be always consummated. If Wendy and Darwan did develop their friendship beyond the point of achieving Wendy's goal, that would be doing the wrong thing. Darwan is religious as well as married. We should be happy that he's learned how to relate to a woman and use these new skills on his marriage. And Wendy finally learns how to relate to her daughter and not be work focused.Learning to drive is a must-see