Learning to Drive is a modest Independent film. The story starts in Manhattan with a cabbie, Darwan (Ben Kingsley) picking up a man fleeing from a restaurant. Ted (Jake Weber) hurries into the back, but his wife Wendy (Patricia Clarkson) is pursuing him. Ted confesses to Wendy that he’s leaving for his girlfriend, leaving her in tears. Ted hops out of the cab, Darwan takes her home. She is broken, but believes Ted will return. The “Seven Year Itch” and all that, she later confesses to her daughter, Tasha (Grace Gummer). Tasha has already seen her father, and he has filed separation papers. Wendy won’t accept it, but instead focuses on Tasha’s recent past, as she’s spent the Summer in New England, on a remote farm, and wants her mother to move up with her before the upcoming harvest, in a chance to get away from it all. Wendy is a Manhattanite, through and through, and doesn’t really want to leave – she doesn’t even have a license, because she’s never needed one.
Wendy decides that if she’s to visit (not stay) with her daughter, she’ll have to get there on her own. She contacts Darwan, who is a driving instructor during the day. He arrives for her first lesson, and she changes her mind. Darwin insists she sit behind the wheel, and walks her through all the things she’ll need to do to drive, with her balking. Next thing, she’s on the road, and thus their working relationship begins. We find that she’s been uninvolved in anything meaningful outside of her job, so she’s rethinking her general behavior.
We discover that Darwan is a Sikh who’s left India after being persecuted and was imprisoned for being a terrorist. We hear that his only remaining sibling, his sister, has sent her son to live in the U.S. She is also trying to finally arrange a marriage for him, to which he’s reluctant to do, given his past, and his pickiness.
If you hadn’t guessed, Learning to Drive is a metaphor for taking charge, and assuming control over “your” life. The plot is fairly predictable, but it’s a good drama that is a cut above your standard movie fare, bolstered by the great cast. Kingsley and Clarkson work well together, and none of the movie seems artificial. Clarkson gives a sincere performance, and Kingsley is quite subdued in his role.
Recommended.