learning to drive movie review

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“Learning to Drive” is advertised as a two-hander about life lessons, which is problematic if you’ve cast a cynical, superior gaze toward this type of movie. People finding themselves through some kind of metaphor for perseverance is a topic ripe with hate-watching possibilities. But while several films of this ilk have certainly been worthy of scorn, several others have been very well done. What isn’t readily evident about this film is what makes it far less easy to dismiss: Its lead character doesn’t find herself so much as make minor modifications to an already found personae. The only major thing Wendy ( Patricia Clarkson ) learns about herself is how she drives.

On the surface, “Learning to Drive” has elements of the romantic comedy it never becomes. The opening scene is the opposite of a “Meet Cute” between the main characters. We see Darwan (Sir Ben Kingsley ), a Sikh who teaches people to drive in the morning and drives a cab at night. At his night job, he picks up Wendy and her soon-to-be ex-husband, Ted ( Jake Weber ). Their fight in the back of Darwan’s cab reveals the dissolution of a 21-year marriage due to Ted’s infidelity. In the ensuing mayhem, book critic Wendy leaves a manuscript of the book she’s reviewing in the back of Darwan’s cab. Darwan returns it, and upon seeing his student training vehicle, Wendy asks for his card.

Until this point, Wendy has no desire to drive. She lives in Queens and depends on the usual modes of transportation New Yorkers employ. When she needed a driver, it was usually Ted. Now that he’s run off with an author Wendy has always given rave reviews to (the scene where she discovers this is ripe with an uncomfortably quiet agony), she’s become a Miss Daisy without a Hoke. None of this would matter if her sister Debbie ( Samantha Bee ) and her daughter Tasha ( Grace Gummer , Meryl Streep ’s daughter) didn’t live well outside the New York City limits.

In order to spend more time with her daughter, Wendy takes Tasha’s advice and hires Darwan as an instructor. This leads to what can best be described as a “short-distance road movie.” The characters feel each other out while trapped in the claustrophobic confines of Darwan’s tiny vehicle, their personalities clashing in scenes of comic tension. Darwan maintains a terse, though polite and helpful demeanor, playing the straight man in this comedy duo. Wendy is far more animated and outspoken, even in moments where she’s too terrified to step on the gas.

Thankfully, “Learning to Drive” doesn’t treat Darwan as an Other whose sole purpose is to forward Wendy’s plotline. Equal time is given to his life, forming a counterpoint to Wendy’s experiences. He’s seen praying at temple, interacting with other Sikhs and taking care of his nephew, whom he promised his sister he’d look after in America. When his sister selects Jasleen ( Sarita Choudhury )  as Darwan’s bride and sends her to America, “Learning to Drive” takes the time to show scenes of her struggles to adapt to American life and a husband who’s far from forthcoming about his emotions.

This is the rare film written, directed and edited by women. Writer Sarah Kenochan based her screenplay on an article in the New Yorker. Director Isabel Coixet reteams with her “ Elegy ” co-stars, placing them in areas of New York City rarely seen onscreen. The borough of Queens hasn’t had this loving a shout-out since “Coming to America”.  And Thelma Schoonmaker takes a break from the frenetic world of Martin Scorsese to lend her editing skills to this low-budget indie feature. Her work is especially noticeable in the film’s short, beautiful wedding sequence.

“Learning to Drive” proves that good acting can elevate even the most standard material. Clarkson makes Wendy more than a wronged wife; she has enough self-awareness to consider that she may not be completely blameless in her crumbling marriage. Her anger and melancholy are balanced with a dry wit that yields some big laughs. Kingsley complements her by giving Darwan a sweet vulnerability underneath his authoritative exterior. Thanks to their performances, Darwan and Wendy remain likable despite their occasional self-absorption.

This film is a little too on-the-nose in its automobile-as-freedom metaphors, but that didn’t hurt my enjoyment. I found myself rooting for this small, quiet dramedy to succeed. For the most part, it does just fine. 

Odie Henderson

Odie "Odienator" Henderson has spent over 33 years working in Information Technology. He runs the blogs Big Media Vandalism and Tales of Odienary Madness. Read his answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire  here .

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Learning to Drive (2015)

Rated R for language and sexual content

Grace Gummer as Tasha

Ben Kingsley as Darwan

Patricia Clarkson as Wendy

Sarita Choudhury as Jasleen

Jake Weber as Ted

John Hodgman as Car Salesman

Samantha Bee as Debbie

• Isabel Coixet
• Sarah Kernochan

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Learning to Drive review – touching, insightful and occasionally unpredictable

Patricia Clarkson as a jilted wife and Ben Kingsley as her Indian driving instructor made a great odd couple in this unflashy but dependable comedy

C ertain tasks performed by certain people have an unfair advantage in the gravitas department. When Ben Kingsley, forever associated with Gandhi, says things like “Read the signs” and “You have the light”, it’s going to make his driving instructor sound like a sage. His turban and Indian accent only sell it further to Patricia Clarkson , who plays a rich white lady who, if you want to reduce this movie to its most sour elements, exploits a brown man for her own advantage then leaves him, literally, by the side of the road. But that’s not quite fair to this touching, insightful and, at the end of the day, extremely well-meaning film. It’s a “mom movie” that may not be the flashiest vehicle, but gets to its destination in good condition.

Clarkson plays book critic and public-radio interviewee Wendy Shields, newly dumped by her husband, Ted (Jake Weber). “One of your students?” she asks, upon hearing the news, because they’ve already got the Upper West Side townhouse and college-age kid farming up in Vermont, so why not go for the full Woody Allen-ish trifecta? Turns out Ted has scratched the philandering itch before, but this time it’s serious. (The mature, Switzerland-like daughter played by Grace Gummer delivers this news.) Wendy, an intellectual and lover of words, has independence thrust upon her. Even a New Yorker sometimes has to drive, and with Ted gone, she needs lessons.

Kingsley’s Darwan Singh Tur, a driving instructor who also moonlights as a cabbie (and was witness to their breakup) is Wendy’s guide to standing on her own two feet. She’s a classic Manhattan liberal, he’s a Sikh immigrant living out in Queens. It’s a terrific odd-couple match, and their back-and-forth scenes are charming and sharp. When we think this trip is veering toward an obvious love story, there’s an unexpected detour when Darwan’s arranged bride Jasleen (Sarita Choudhury) enters the picture.

Learning to Drive is based on a short autobiographical short story by Katha Pollit, a long-time political columnist for the Nation. In the original version, her teacher is actually from the Philippines. The film’s adjustment allows us to witness anti-Arab sentiment in New York, even towards people who aren’t Arab. (When Darwan shows his papers and says he’s been a citizen since 2000, the cop mutters: “In just under the wire, huh?”) Isabel Coixet, whose 2008 Philip Roth adaptation Elegy also featured Clarkson and Kingsley, goes in with just a drizzle of liberal guilt while others would pour it on. Darwan is a “good man” but not a saint. The film’s best sequences are in his tightknit Sikh community, where life is a mix of struggle and warmth.

Clarkson is just terrific as the half-assured, half-scatterbrained woman on the cusp of retirement age, but who still has plenty of fire left. Kingsley, good even in bad movies (such as recent examples Self/Less and Exodus: Gods and Kings) is warm and vulnerable and, like Geoffrey Rush in The King’s Speech, is one of those inspiring teachers you always wished you had.

Thankfully this version of Learning to Drive doesn’t end with Wendy finding happiness by shacking up with some new beau. (I think long-in-the trenches feminist Pollitt would set herself on fire in the film studio’s parking lot before letting that happen.) But the movie is, undeniably, a little bourgeois. Wendy’s triumph involves buying (not leasing!) a new car to ride up the Henry Hudson Parkway to the leafy vistas of New England to see her daughter. On a critic’s salary? Well, it is the movies.

• Comedy films
• Ben Kingsley
• Drama films
• Romance films
• Patricia Clarkson

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Review: ‘Learning to Drive’ well worth the trip

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Providing a welcome, grown-up escape from all that summer escapism, director Isabel Coixet’s “Learning to Drive” is a richly observed, crosscultural character study that coasts along pleasurably on the strengths of its virtuoso leads.

Freshly dumped by her longtime husband, Manhattan book critic Wendy Shields (Patricia Clarkson) is struggling to take control of the life she thought she knew.

Having never driven a car before, she takes lessons from Darwan Singh Tur (Ben Kingsley), a highly principled Sikh driving instructor who’s about to be married to a woman from India whom he has never met.

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It’s a given that this certified odd couple will affect each other’s lives in unexpected ways. While the script, based on an autobiographical New Yorker magazine article, goes a bit heavy on the driving metaphors, the director gets maximum mileage out of their performances.

Coixet previously directed Clarkson and Kingsley in the 2008 film “Elegy.” Here, Clarkson’s Wendy credibly fights a losing battle disguising her vulnerability beneath her tough New Yorker exterior; Darwan may have the patience of a saint, but he’s no Gandhi, and having already been there, Kingsley imbues his character with some spirited contradictions.

“Learning to Drive” may might not cover fresh ground, but with Clarkson and Kingsley behind the wheel, it makes for a lovely excursion.

--------------------------

“Learning to Drive.”

MPAA rating: R for language, sexual content.

Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.

Playing: ArcLight, Hollywood; Landmark, West L.A.

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Review: ‘Learning to Drive’ Charts a Culture-Bridging Friendship

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By Stephen Holden

• Aug. 20, 2015

Among the charms of “ Learning to Drive ,” a small, observant dual portrait of a New York book critic and her Indian-American driving instructor, are the detailed, lived-in performances of its stars, Patricia Clarkson and Ben Kingsley. The film belongs to a school of grown-up, low-drama two-handers, of which the most famous example is “Driving Miss Daisy,” but “Learning to Drive” isn’t half as sentimental. As this movie, directed by Isabel Coixet, tracks the deepening friendship between people from different cultures and backgrounds, it acquires an unforced metaphorical resonance.

Wendy Shields (Ms. Clarkson) is a high-strung Manhattan literary star whose marriage explodes when her husband, Ted (Jake Weber), abruptly leaves her for another woman. Adapted from an essay in The New Yorker by the feminist author Katha Pollitt, the movie lightly touches on many subjects: divorce, rage and financial warfare; conflicting philosophies of marriage; and mother-daughter strife.

In the concise, droll screenplay by Sarah Kernochan (“Impromptu,” “9 ½ Weeks”), the seven-year relationship described in Ms. Pollitt’s essay has become a 21-year marriage, the better to illustrate the chasm between Indian and American marital customs and to suggest that the American ideal of unlimited personal freedom has its price.

Wendy is an upper-middle-class woman of letters with a highbrow reputation. One of her saddest realizations when abandoned is that her marriage might have lasted had her passion for literature not taken precedence. This is the rare film that conveys the intense, private experience of the dedicated reader.

Like many longtime New Yorkers, Wendy has relied on public transportation. Only when her marriage ends does she realize that she has to learn to drive if she wants to visit her fiery college-age daughter, Tasha (Grace Gummer), on a farm in Vermont.

Her driving teacher, Darwan (Mr. Kingsley), is a Sikh Indian and part-time cabdriver who shares a drab Queens apartment with fellow Indian immigrants, some of whom are in the country illegally. There is a raid in which several roommates are chased out of the house. In India, Darwan was a university professor, imprisoned for his religious beliefs. He won political asylum in the United States.

Wherever he goes, Darwan, conspicuous in his turban, faces possible harassment. When Wendy, flustered and fearful behind the wheel, damages another vehicle, Darwan is assumed by the police to be responsible until Wendy steps in. The chemistry between Darwan and Wendy has an unspoken romantic subtext, but the attraction never bursts into flame. Ms. Clarkson , with her Cheshire cat smile and twinkling eyes, conveys the mysterious allure of a sensual woman with secrets. Under her seductive charm percolates a volatile, combative temperament.

Mr. Kingsley’s penetrating brown-eyed gaze can project everything from pure evil to near-divinity, and in “Learning to Drive,” his demeanor is benign but not holy. With his stiff-backed posture and alert expression, he projects an unflappable self-control, even when Wendy has a near-meltdown on the Queensboro Bridge. His lessons in patience and concentration convey a calm, farsighted perspective steeped in Eastern philosophy.

Darwan is about to enter into an arranged marriage with Jasleen (Sarita Choudhury), a Sikh woman of whom he knows next to nothing beyond that they were born in neighboring villages. With Jasleen, as with Wendy, he is stern but polite, persistent but not authoritarian. Even when he realizes, to his disappointment, that Jasleen is uneducated, speaks poor English and is scared to leave the house, his frustration never boils over.

Moments of humor gently tilt “Learning to Drive” toward comedy. In the wittiest scene, a blind date that turns into a one-night stand leaves Wendy wrung out after a protracted session of tantric sex. Such little detours add a lighthearted gloss to a delicate film that steers clear of preaching or of slipping into mawkishness.

“Learning to Drive” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Strong language and some sexual content.

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Learning to Drive Reviews

An absolutely delightful and searingly smart take on modern life, romantic relationships and friendship.

Full Review | Oct 12, 2021

Director Coixet is a first class filmmaker...

Full Review | Sep 29, 2021

I believe Learning to Drive, for a thoughtful adult audience, could be a lead-in to a wonderful conversation about attitudes toward life, especially in the face of loss.

Full Review | Sep 13, 2021

A touching movie that isn't so much about the destination - frankly that part is a mild let down - but about the journey and the words. The pleasure of the film is taking the trip and listening in to these two professionals deliver them.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Feb 3, 2021

If you're interested in something that goes down smoothly and doesn't try to challenge you in any way, you might find this bit of escapism worth your while.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Jul 14, 2020

This is a gently woven story; small yet nourishing, and well worth the ticket price.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 29, 2019

While there are a few genuinely funny moments, Learning to Drive isn't the feel-good comedy it's meant to be.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | May 2, 2019

The movie struggles with tone.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Apr 19, 2019

If only Coixet and Kernochan would flirt with danger a little more in their filmmaking, we could have had a more memorable film on our hands.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Mar 7, 2019

LEARNING TO DRIVE basically takes the Hollywood blueprint about what a film about new beginnings should be and turns it into a Happy Meal that has been replicated umpteen times over.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Mar 1, 2019

Learning to Drive makes me wish we had never met Wendy. Her story is self-indulgent and uninspiring.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/10 | Aug 30, 2018

Isabel Coixet brings us an insightful, refreshing and mercifully cliché-free look at a woman in her early 60s learning to start over through learning to drive.

Full Review | Aug 22, 2018

With creative writing and adept acting, it's a film that will transport you to a better place in life.

Full Review | Aug 21, 2018

This odd couple has much to learn from each other - and I'm not talking about parallel parking. Their scenes together are well-written and deftly acted. As they should be, with two of Hollywood's most accomplished pros behind the wheel.

Full Review | Original Score: 7.5/10 | Dec 3, 2017

Sarah Kernochan supplies an insightful screenplay that deals with illegal immigration, arranged marriage and institutional racism along the way to a touching and cleverly unexpected ending.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 23, 2017

[It] has its own concerns and addresses them simply and winningly.

Full Review | Oct 11, 2017

[Patricia] Clarkson, the ultimate WASP and [Ben] Kingsley, born Krishna Pandit Bhanji, are very good together.

Full Review | Aug 21, 2017

Learning to Drive... is a satisfyingly grownup movie. Its stakes are gentle but real. Its characters behave decently yet feel strongly, and their parallel worlds are unfair if occasionally joyous.

Full Review | Jul 28, 2017

In Learning to Drive, the conversations and 'lessons' exchanged ( ... ) feel too scripted; life lessons disguised as driving lessons, deliberate and contrived.

Full Review | Mar 23, 2017

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Learning to drive, common sense media reviewers.

Empathetic drama treats mature themes with warmth.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Making other people happy in a relationship isn

Darwan is a kind, gentle man with a strict code of

Two men rough up an immigrant, making racial slurs

One sex scene shows a couple in the throes of pass

Multiple uses of "s--t," "f--k,&quo

Several scenes feature Chevrolet cars, including o

A woman mopes around her home with many half-drunk

Parents need to know that Learning to Drive is a well-acted, beautifully written, and sensitively shot dramedy about finding yourself at a midlife crossroads you didn't expect. This story about finding your own way is most appropriate for older teens and adults, who will be better able to understand its…

Positive Messages

Making other people happy in a relationship isn't always easy; it's much too easy to ignore their needs and focus on yourself. Themes also include identity crisis, marital discord, and cultural displacement.

Positive Role Models

Darwan is a kind, gentle man with a strict code of honor who must learn a bit more about himself in order to figure out how to make his new wife happy. Wendy also needs to learn more about who she's become to learn why her marriage fell apart.

Violence & Scariness

Two men rough up an immigrant, making racial slurs as they push him around and knock his turban to the ground.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

One sex scene shows a couple in the throes of passion, moving vigorously and making plenty of noise, with the woman's breasts visible. A soon-to-be-divorced couple argues about their waning sex life. The woman later covers the same topic with her sister, including a somewhat graphic discussion about oral sex.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Multiple uses of "s--t," "f--k," and "a--hole."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Several scenes feature Chevrolet cars, including one sequence in which a woman excitedly buys her first new car at a Chevy dealership.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

A woman mopes around her home with many half-drunk bottles of wine on the counter, suggesting that she's been drinking alone, a lot. Adults also drink wine at meals.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Learning to Drive is a well-acted, beautifully written, and sensitively shot dramedy about finding yourself at a midlife crossroads you didn't expect. This story about finding your own way is most appropriate for older teens and adults, who will be better able to understand its mature themes of identity crisis, marital discord, cultural displacement, and more. Expect some swearing (mostly sparing use of "s--t" and "f--k"), a vigorous sex scene in which a woman's breasts are visible, a bit of graphic sex talk, a little violence (racists rough up an immigrant), and a subtle reference to drinking during a woman's darkest days. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Movies | ‘learning to drive’ review: subtle performances from clarkson, kingsley.

Nothing quite so fanciful occurs in the movie, which is decorous and civilized in the extreme. It’s extremely well acted by Patricia Clarkson, as a Manhattan book critic, and Ben Kingsley, as her fastidious Sikh driving instructor. Clarkson’s Wendy is navigating an unwanted divorce and has a daughter (Grace Gummer) working on a Vermont commune who she’d like to see more. Hence the lessons with her instructor, Darwan (Kingsley), who meanwhile is negotiating a difficult new life in an arranged marriage to a woman (Sarita Choudhury of “Mississippi Masala”) from India.

Student and teacher become friends, with the tantalizing promise of something more. The adaptation by screenwriter Sarah Kernochan (a co-writer on “91/2 Weeks,” to name another film not to be confused with this one) has been directed with supreme tact by Isabel Coixet. Her earlier works include “Elegy,” also featuring Kingsley and Clarkson. That film, based on a Philip Roth story, was as male-centric as this one is female.

I wish “Learning to Drive” imagined a fuller, more dimensional inner life for Wendy, but Clarkson develops a push-pull rapport with Kingsley that fills in the blanks — or, rather, mitigates the script’s on-the-nose tendencies. They’re both highly concentrated performers, with speaking voices (his like an oboe, hers like a different oboe) that convey a worldliness and mysterious wisdom, often in a single word.

The movie isn’t much, but the drivers pass with flying colors.

Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.

[email protected]

Twitter @phillipstribune

“Learning to Drive” — 2.5 stars

MPAA rating : R (for language and sexual content)

Running time : 1:30

Opens : Friday

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LEARNING TO DRIVE – The Review

Review by Cate Marquis

Patricia Clarkson and Ben Kingsley give us a pair of well-drawn, likeable characters as a New Yorker learning to drive from a Indian-American driving instructor, in LEARNING TO DRIVE.

LEARNING TO DRIVE is the kind of little film – smart, often funny, thoughtful – for grown-ups seen too little in theaters.  But what really makes this film are the careful crafted, lived-in performances by Kingsley and Clarkson.

A cross-cultural  story about two people driving around might bring “Driving Miss Daisy” to mind, but this film is really nothing like that sentimental tale. Although this story is built around a New Yorker learning to drive, the film is really about taking the wheel of one’s own life, a lesson for both the student and the teacher.

In St. Louis, like most of the country, nearly everyone learns to drive, usually as a teenager. In New York, it is a different case. Many people never learn to drive there, instead using public transportation and cabs. So it takes a certain courage and determination for a middle-aged woman to decide to learn to drive in a culture where not everyone does.

Patricia Clarkson plays Wendy Shields, a successful, well-known book critic whose college professor husband suddenly announces he is leaving her for another woman. Her husband gives her the news at a restaurant, hoping to limit the drama, but when he tries to leave, shocked Wendy jumps in his cab and continues asking him why The cab driver, a South Asian immigrant named Darwan (Kingsley), politely pretends not to hear what is going on in his back seat but he is clearly moved by her heartbroken reaction. The husband asks the cabbie to pull over, gets out and tells the cabbie to drive her home.

The next day, Wendy finds comfort from the couple’s only child Tasha (Grace Gummer), who is home from her college in upstate New York. Tasha wants to be supportive but turns down her mother’s request that she transfer to a university in town. So if Wendy wants to see her, she’ll have to drive there. Which means, she will have to learn to drive. When she calls a driving school, the instructor that shows up at her door is the same cabbie who drove her home, the second of his two jobs.

This film takes a smart, drily witty, literary spin that quashes any drift towards the sentimental. The strength of this charming, warm, often funny film is the appealing characters Clarkson and Kingsley build up. The two actors have great chemistry together and bring a little romantic attraction, never acted on, that gives a little extra boost. A lesser film would make this all about the New Yorker, but this film rounds out both characters.

Because of the cab ride, Darwan understands a little more of what Wendy is going through and as he guides her through the basics of driving, he builds up her confidence for taking control of her own life. Darwan’s calm effortlessness in teaching these dual lessons suggest this is not the first time he has helped a middle-aged New York woman find new self-confidence in driving. However, as the story unfolds, Darwan and Wendy become more like friends, and Darwan learns from Wendy as well as the reverse, as he faces his own life changes.

Darwan lives in Queens, in an apartment he shares with a bunch of other Sikh men, a minority religion in the Indian subcontinent men. Most of his roommates, including his nephew, are not in the country legally but Darwan is a legal resident, granted political asylum to escape persecution for his religion and political beliefs. Back home, he was a professor at a university, here he teaches driving and moonlights driving a cab. An immigration raid scatters his roommates and he finds himself living alone, which prompts him to finally agree to his sister’s plan to find him a wife in their village back in India, an idea he had resisted previously.

Since Sikh men wear turbans, they are often mistaken in this country for Muslims, and the film touches on that fact in one scene. While Wendy copes with her pending divorce, her role in the its end and explores her new life, Darwan gets some help from her about romancing his new wife, who arrives uncertain about adjusting to her new country. The film keeps things light but always intelligent

LEARNING TO DRIVE is a charming little film, with fine performances, appealing characters and nice little message about both friendship and learning something new, no matter your age.

LEARNING TO DRIVE opens Friday, September 4, at Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

OVERALL RATING: 4 OUT OF 5 STARS

Photo Credit: Broad Green Pictures

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‘Learning to Drive’: A fine vehicle for Patricia Clarkson, Ben Kingsley

A review of Isabel Coixet’s “Learning to Drive,” which pairs two fine actors en route to an enchanting connection. Rating: 3.5 stars out of 4.

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Every now and then a movie comes along that, while breaking no new ground, leaves its viewers quietly happy, the way you feel after a not-very-eventful afternoon with a beloved friend. Isabel Coixet’s “Learning to Drive,” which showcases two great actors finding an enchanting connection, is one of those films. Patricia Clarkson, she of that marvelously velvet voice, is Wendy, a Brooklyn book critic whose husband (Jake Weber) has left her for another woman; Ben Kingsley, all quiet yet mesmerizing dignity, is Darwan, a Sikh Indian cabbie whom Wendy, still simmering over the betrayal, hires to teach her how to drive.

From here, the movie proceeds as a series of set pieces. We see Wendy in her book-filled home, drinking too much wine, arguing with her grown daughter (Grace Gummer) and trying to make sense of what’s happened to her. We see Darwan in his dark Queens apartment, as he prepares for an arranged marriage to Jasleen (Sarita Choudhury), whom he meets only when she arrives at the airport, carefully carrying her wedding dress. And, mostly, we see Wendy and Darwan together in his instruction car, as Wendy nervously navigates streets that suddenly seem terribly foreign while Darwan intones soothing advice: “Every time it will get easier.” “Teach yourself to see everything.” “You can’t always trust people to behave properly.” (“Ain’t that the truth,” murmurs Wendy.)

All this is perhaps too spot-on a metaphor for Wendy’s new life — “Today you are going over a bridge,” announces Darwan, right on schedule with Wendy’s recovery — but it doesn’t matter a bit; spending time with these two characters, and these two expressive faces, is a pleasure. (As is Clarkson’s slyly funny imitation of an NPR voice, when Wendy does a radio interview; she’s so purry you look for the catnip.)

Movie Review ★★★½  

‘Learning to Drive,’ with Patricia Clarkson, Ben Kingsley, Jake Weber, Sarita Choudhury, Grace Gummer. Directed by Isabel Coixet, from a screenplay by Sarah Kernochan. 89 minutes. Rated R for language and sexual content. Seven Gables, Lincoln Square, Pacific Place.

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Movie review | Learning To Drive: So-so film nevertheless great as vehicle for stars

Learning To Drive - not to be confused with the Corey Haim/Corey Feldman vehicle License To Drive - comes from an autobiographical 2002 New Yorker article by essayist Katha Pollitt.

In the magazine piece, later published in a Pollitt collection of stories, the longtime nondriving Manhattan resident bounces back from a breakup with a womanizing jerk (I'm taking her point of view) by grabbing the wheel of her own life - through driving lessons.

At one point, Pollitt imagines using her newfound skills to commit vehicular homicide on her ex.

Nothing quite so fanciful occurs in the movie, which is decorous and civilized in the extreme.

Yet it is well-acted by Patricia Clarkson as a New York book critic and Ben Kingsley as her fastidious Sikh driving instructor. Wendy (Clarkson) is navigating an unwanted divorce and has a daughter (Mamie Gummer) working on a Vermont commune whom she would like to see more. Her instructor, Darwan (Kingsley), is negotiating a difficult new life in an arranged marriage to an Indian woman (Sarita Choudhury of Mississippi Masala ).

Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

Student and teacher become friends, with the tantalizing promise of something more.

The adaptation by screenwriter Sarah Kernochan (a co-writer of 9 1/2 Weeks , to name another film not to be confused with this one) is directed with supreme tact by Isabel Coixet.

Her earlier works include Elegy , also featuring Kingsley and Clarkson. That film, based on a Philip Roth story, was male-centric.

It would be nice if Learning To Drive imagined a fuller inner life for Wendy, but Clarkson develops a push-pull rapport with co-star Kingsley that fills in the blanks - or, rather, mitigates the script's on-the-nose tendencies.

The performers' speaking voices - his like an oboe, hers like a different oboe - convey a worldliness and mysterious wisdom, often in a single word.

The movie isn't much, but the drivers pass with flying colors.

Learning To Drive . Directed by Isabel Coixet. MPAA rating : R (for language, sexual content) Running time : 1:30 Now showing at the Crosswoods and Drexel theaters

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Movie Review: Learning to Drive (2014)

• Howard Schumann
• Movie Reviews
• No responses
• --> January 7, 2016

Based on a short story by Katha Pollit, a columnist for the Nation magazine, Learning to Drive is a small movie with a big heart. While the film is risk averse and will not be mistaken for a timeless work of art, its story of two middle-aged people of vastly different backgrounds assisting each other in a time of crisis will leave you with a warm glow. Directed by Isabel Coixet (“Another Me”) with a screenplay by Sarah Kernochan (“Sommersby”), Learning to Drive is about Wendy (Patricia Clarkson, “ Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials ”), a writer and book critic, whose 21-year marriage to Ted (Jake Weber, “ White House Down ”) has just ended in a toxic confrontation in a taxicab and has to move outside of her comfort zone to regain her self-confidence.

Deeply distraught by the separation, Wendy wants to get away from New York City to visit her daughter Tasha (Grace Gummer, “ The Homesman ”), a college student who is working on a farm in Vermont, but doesn’t know how to drive. The driver of the taxi, Darwan Singh Tur (Ben Kingsley, “ Ender’s Game ”), a former college professor in India and now a part-time driving instructor who was the unwitting witness to the marital breakup, does. After he returns an envelope that Wendy left in his cab, Wendy hires him to provide driving lessons and soon discovers that he is a calming influence who has a lot to teach her other than how to put on the brakes.

Wendy’s devotion to the written word has restricted her willingness to challenge the outside world. Darwan leads her through her fears with patience and charm and encourages her to keep pursuing her goal even after she fails her driving test. During the lessons, however, he has to handle her road rage and lack of self-confidence as well as cope with his own incidents of racism coming from other motorists and pedestrians, one who refers to him as “Osama” and rips the turban from his head. Darwan is about to be married in a union arranged by his family according to Sikh tradition and tells Wendy that his family best knows his needs and that such a crucial decision should not be left to random choice.

When his bride Jasleen (Sarita Choudhury, “ The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 ”) arrives from India, however, she is bewildered by her new environment, remains in the apartment, fearful of meeting people and her fears are confirmed when Darwan seems troubled over her lack of education. It is a time of transition for both of them and it will call upon all their resources of patience, tolerance, and understanding to see it through. Learning to Drive is marked by outstanding performances by Clarkson and Kingsley who bring a special understanding to their roles and put us in touch with the beauty of sharing who we are with others, even when it is uncomfortable to do so.

Tagged: divorce , marriage , New York City , short story adaptation , writer

I am a retired father of two living with my wife in Vancouver, B.C. who has had a lifelong interest in the arts.

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Movie Review: “Learning to Drive”

There was the arm’s-length romance set against the release of aquarium-bound sea turtles, “Turtle Diary,” and the darkly romantic longing of a backwater spy of “Pascali’s Island.”

“Learning to Drive” fits in with that part of his repertoire, a mild-mannered not-quite-romantic romance about a Sikh driving instructor and the harried, depressed and distracted student, a woman going through a traumatic divorce.

Kingsley is Darwan, a dignified and somewhat stiff Sikh, a workaholic who seems to support an apartment full of Sikh men who turn out to be illegal immigrants.

By night, he’s a cabbie. And then, after a morning visit to the temple (Kingsley is meticulous and respectful in his practice of rituals), he checks into his day job — as a very patience, quite conscientious driving instructor.

Wendy (the vivacious Patricia Clarkson) meets Darwan on the worst night of her life. Her husband (Jake Weber) is leaving her, trying to escape her clutches in a cab. And she takes the fight — profane and weepy and physical — into Darwan’s taxi.

When she leaves a parcel in his car and he returns it, he leaves his card. On an impulse, with her daughter (Grace Gummer, Meryl Streep’s other daughter) living on a farm in Vermont, Wendy resolves to finally learn how to drive. But she changes her mind in the sober light of day. Darwan has to trick her into sitting behind the wheel.

He quietly and patiently gives her a step-by-step instruction. Wendy, a book critic always lost in her thoughts (GREAT trait to have, if you’re a New York City driver), absent-mindedly follows them. And then snaps to attention. Not happening, she says, after getting halfway out of the parking space.

“You have to go forward now,” Darwan prods. “I haven’t taught you to back up.”

The comedy here comes from their gentle, sentimental friendship. Wendy is struggling with the loss of a spouse of 21 years, the fact that maybe her inattention contributed to the split. Darwan has a past of his own, and he’s being nagged into an arranged marriage (to Sarita Choudhury, who first gained fame for “Mississippi Masala”).

“Learning to Drive” was written by the screenwriter of “What Lies Beneath” and directed by the comedy-impaired Isabel Coixet (“Elegy,” “My Life Without Me”). It was conceived as a project aimed at older viewers, and it works well enough — charming scenes, the odd bit of comically frank profanity or explicit sex.

But close-ups here are used as pandering to the actors, not in service of the story. Scene after scene is chopped up with unnecessary attempts at “moments” played with a single face in the frame. The editing is unusual enough to call attention to itself, never a good thing.

The characters are roughed out nicely. Wendy’s temper is always getting the better of her. The lady has quite the foul mouth.

“I think it’s time to discuss road rage.”

But Kingsley is entirely too stiff and proper in this part to suggest any heat between them, and even if that serves the script, the film cries out for more warmth. It’s a chilly piece, scattered funny situations and laugh-out-loud lines, and a good cast performing them.

“Learning to Drive” needed more culture clash, more scenes between student and teacher, more sparks — even if they’re kind of chaste.

“Love is the road to God.”

“I unfriended God a long time ago.”

A little more of that, and a little less attention to recreating Sikh rituals or Wendy’s ongoing break-up might have helped “Drive” take off.

MPAA Rating: R for language and sexual content

Cast: Patricia Clarkson, Ben Kingsley, Sarita Choudhury Credits: Directed by Isabel Coixet, script by Sarah Kernochan. A Broad Green release.

Running time: 1:30

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Learning to drive movie review.

• Film Review
• 8/19/2015 7:52:00 AM
• View Count 4034

Wendy (Patricia Clarkson) loves words. She always has. Unfortunately, her job as a New York literary critic took precedence over building up her marriage. Yet, she’s still shocked when Ted (Jake Weber), her husband of 21 years, suddenly leaves her for another woman. This leaves Wendy in a pickle as she relied on him as a driver. Although the thought terrifes her, she decides to learn to drive in order to visit Tasha (Grace Gummer), her college-age daughter, in Vermont.

Enter Darwan (Ben Kingsley). An Indian-American, part-time New York cabbie and part-time driving instructor, Darwan is a gentle soul, devoted Sikh, and exudes calmness. Darwan witnesses the marriage-ending argument between Wendy and Ted in the back seat of his cab then kindly returns a package Wendy absentmindedly left there that fateful night.

Coming from opposite cultural worlds, Wendy and Darwan develop an unlikely friendship as they spend time in the car. Wearing colorful turbans, Darwan experiences daily racial profiling. When Wendy causes an accident, the men involved harass Darwan until Wendy steps in, berating them for their prejudice. She respects Darwan even though she does not understand why Darwan has entered into an arranged marriage with Jasleen (Sarita Choudhury), a woman he doesn’t even know.

Neither Wendy nor Darwan are perfect people but then, who is? After being set up on a blind date, Wendy sleeps with the guy. Darwan critiques almost everything his new bride does but each, in their own way, searches for meaning in their lives.

Learning to Drive , directed by Isabel Coixet, represents a refreshing break from all the big-budget films of the summer.  Its quiet conversations show two people interacting and growing close without the intrusion of romance. Yes, there are some sparks flying, but Wendy gently turns down Darwan’s dinner invitation, showing great integrity. She tells him, “You’re a good man,” and she doesn’t want to get in the way of his developing relationship with his new wife. Darwan takes the opportunity to look at Jasleen with kinder eyes and dedicates himself to working on their relationship.

Although there are a few morality issues with this film from a Catholic perspective, I believe Learning to Drive, for a thoughtful adult audience, could be a lead-in to a wonderful conversation about attitudes toward life, especially in the face of loss. Loss does not mean only death. We each experience little losses every day. How do we deal with them? Do we ask for help from God and others? Do we wallow in the sadness or do we work though it? How we respond has much to do with the way we see life. Are we like Darwan, calm and generally positive, or negative and insecure, like Wendy? No matter where we fall, we always have the power to change for the better with each choice we make.

About the Author

Sister Hosea Rupprecht is a member of the Daughters of St. Paul, a religious community dedicated to evangelization with the media. She holds a Master of Theological Studies degree from the University of St. Michael’s College in Toronto and an MA in Media Literacy from Webster University in St. Louis. 

Sr. Hosea is director of the East Coast office of the Pauline Center for Media Studies, based in Staten Island, NY, and speaks on media literacy and faith to catechists, parents, youth, and young adults. Together with Father Chip Hines, she is the co-host of Searchlight, a Catholic movie review show on Catholic TV. Sr. Hosea is the author of  How to Watch Movies with Kids: A Values-Based Strategy,  released by Pauline Books & Media. 

For the past 15 years, she has facilitated various film dialogues for both children and adults, as well as given presentations on integrating culture, faith and media.

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‘Learning to Drive’ movie review’ — 3 stars

“Learning to Drive” tells the story of a well-off Manhattan woman getting a divorce, who decides that it is time for her to fulfill the title of the film so that she can visit her daughter living on a farm in Vermont.

Patricia Clarkson plays Wendy, a magazine writer who is in the midst of a divorce from her husband. It’s a particularly difficult breakup for her, and it comes with the bad news that she’s also going to have to move and she partially losses her mobility — she never learned to drive and she had relied on her husband to drive her around.

In what would be a meet cute in a lesser movie, a tearful Wendy is taken home by cabdriver Darwan (Sir Ben Kingsley, superb). He returns the next day in his other vehicle — the car he uses as a driving instructor — to return some items left in the cab from the night before.

Darwan is a Sikh Indian refugee living in Queens who is about to meet the woman he is arranged to marry. His daily routine involves dealing with various hateful comments from people, which he handles through prayer. The Sikh community is portrayed so richly here, and one wishes we could spend much more time with Darwan and that world.

Kingsley and Clarkson, reuniting with their “Elegy” director Isabel Coixet, have many intimate scenes — discussions sitting shoulder to shoulder — about driving, relationships, racism and life.

The bond formed between Darwan and Wendy is of instructor and student and student and instructor. Conversations about relationships and driving are filled with metaphors and dual meanings.

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September 15, 2015 Movies » Movie Reviews

Film Review: "Learning to Drive" 

• PHOTO COURTESY BROAD GREEN PICTURES
• Ben Kingsley and Patricia Clarkson in "Learning to Drive."

"Learning to Drive"

(R), Directed by Isabel Coixet

Now playing

In the opening scenes of the pleasant but totally unremarkable "Learning to Drive," Wendy, a fragile Manhattanite book critic played by Patricia Clarkson, learns that her husband has been seeing someone else and he plans to leave her (something he's apparently tried several times before, though it appears that this time it's going to stick). The worst of their ensuing argument happens in the backseat of the cab driven by Sikh political refugee Darwan (Ben Kingsley), who returns to her home the next day to give back the purse she left there. A driving instructor by day, he offers her lessons in the film's central metaphor, as Wendy -- who always depended on her husband and public transportation to get around -- must learn to get outside her comfort zone and dig into the messy, dangerous thing we call life.

The two inevitably develop a friendship, growing and learning from one another -- even if their relationship seems awfully one-sided, as it remains unclear exactly what Darwan gets out of the deal. Both actors are better than the material they're given, though Kingsley is saddled with the role of noble minority, and the character too often descends into stereotype. Clarkson gets more to play, but the actress deserves more. The film does gain some layers with the arrival of Darwan's bride, Jasleen (Sarita Choudhury), through an arranged marriage. Her tentative steps into a new culture and environment are more insightful than anything that precedes it, but the film ends just as it seems it's finally about to get interesting.

Tags: Movie Reviews , Film Review , Learning to Drive , Isabel Coixet , Ben Kingsley , Patricia Clarkson

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'Drive' Ending Explained: What Happens to Ryan Gosling's Driver?

The 2011 film by Nicolas Winding Refn ends on an open-ended note. Let's break down what it could mean.

The Big Picture

• Drive is a love story that reinvents classic noir and Western archetypes into a slick modern thriller, showcasing Nicholas Winding Refn's take on male sensitivity.
• The Driver's struggle to escape his violent nature and pursue a normal family life is a central theme throughout the film.
• The ending suggests that The Driver expected to be betrayed and had entered the restaurant with the intention of killing Bernie, leaving the audience to interpret his fate.

While the films of Nicholas Winding Refn are often divisive among critics and audiences due to their shocking content, his 2011 film Drive has been widely acknowledged as one of the best films of the past several decades. Drive proved that Refn wasn’t just a “style over substance” filmmaker. There’s certainly something inherently exciting about the film’s electrifying score and the propulsive action sequences, but at its heart, Drive is a love story that reinvents classic noir and Western archetypes into a slick modern thriller. It’s almost strange for a filmmaker as notoriously flashy as Refn to show such male sensitivity with his lead character, but Drive leaves the audience emotionally overwhelmed until its shocking (if somewhat confusing) ending.

Drive follows a nameless drifter ( Ryan Gosling ) who works under the veteran mobster Bernie Rose ( Albert Brooks ). While the Driver attempts to make a break from the profession that he’s contributed so much of his life to, Rose refuses to let him go. It gets more complicated for The Driver when he begins to fall in love with his neighbor Irene ( Carey Mulligan ) and forms an attachment to her young son Benicio ( Kaden Leos ), only to realize that her husband Standard Gabriel ( Oscar Isaac ) is a dangerous ex-con. Pushed to his capacities, The Driver attempts to save his new family and have the happy life that he’s always dreamed of.

Drive was baffling to some audiences who went in expecting something close to The Fast and the Furious , as Gosling’s nearly wordless performance isn’t as inherently expressive as most action movie protagonists. While the complex gangster storyline involving The Driver’s last heist is complex in its own right, analysis has suggested that not everything about the last act of Drive is as literal as it seems . The increasingly surrealist nature of Refn’s work suggests the same thing. Here is everything you need to know about the ending of Drive , explained.

A mysterious Hollywood action film stuntman gets in trouble with gangsters when he tries to help his neighbor's husband rob a pawn shop while serving as his getaway driver.

Who Is Ryan Gosling's Driver Really?

Throughout the film, the audience is given the impression that The Driver is unable to change his inherent nature and redeem himself from the acts of violence that he has committed. Early on, The Driver watches a movie with Benicio, who tells him that he can tell that the shark is the villain. When The Driver asks if the shark could ever be a “good guy,” Benicio says it isn’t possible. This represents The Driver’s dilemma – he’s tempted by a normal family life with Irene, but he keeps getting dragged into the criminal world. The Driver’s facial reactions to violence are often those resembling a timid child, who is scared of what he has become.

Another hint about this theme comes through the story of the frog and the scorpion that is told. A scorpion asks a frog to take him across the river, to which the frog refuses out of fear. Although the frog agrees after the scorpion tells him that they will both drown if he ends up stinging, the scorpion stings the frog anyway because he can’t change his nature. It’s no coincidence that The Driver’s iconic jacket has the image of a scorpion on it . This is essential to understanding The Driver’s conception of himself towards the ending.

How Ryan Gosling Went From Angry Indie Boy to the Funniest Lead in Hollywood

There’s no sequence that shows this change better than the elevator brawl. The Driver savors his last “normal” moment with Irene by kissing her, then showing who he truly is when he kills the thugs. It’s as if he has “stung” Irene by drawing her into his world, and this is accentuated once he discovers the body of his handler Shannon ( Bryan Cranston ). After putting on the rubber mask from the movie set, The Driver dispatches Nino ( Ron Perlman ) on a beach in a very cinematic atmosphere. At this point, it’s as if he feels that he’s ascended to a heightened cinematic reality.

Does Ryan Gosling Die at the End of 'Drive'?

The Driver has received an ultimatum from Bernie, who offers to protect Irene and Benicio if he receives the monetary reward. The Driver complies, but prior to his meeting with Bernie, he calls Irene and informs her that he will not return, but that she will be safe and taken care of. While this doesn’t necessarily suggest that The Driver is accepting death , it does indicate that he won’t see Irene again to not put her in danger. He hopes that she will emerge having a fond memory of his as what the theme song refers to as “a real human being.”

After The Driver meets Bernie and hands him the money, the ruthless Jewish mobster stabs him in the gut. It’s likely that The Driver expected this, as later shots show him scanning the restaurant and mapping out the area ahead of time. Since The Driver already has a knife with him ready to stab and kill Bernie in return, it’s suggested that he expected to be betrayed and had entered the restaurant with the intention of killing him. When he leaves and drives off at the end, The Driver does not take the stash of cash that has been “tainted” with blood .

Some have speculated that The Driver didn’t actually survive and that the final drive away is him ascending to heaven and living out the vision of himself that he imagined. This is possible, but considering the blood is still on his hands there’s no implication that he’s in a dream sequence in the final moments of his life. Even though The Driver is severely wounded, he expected to be attacked by Bernie. Irene knocks on his door and realizes he’s gone for good, but The Driver had wanted to leave her behind to not intrude on her life anymore. Drive is a relatively straightforward film that’s more interesting on multiple viewings to look at its metaphorical implications . Refn plays with the iconography of the Los Angeles crime scene to examine the mythologization of heroes and villains, and the scenes on a film set suggest that Drive is analyzing the nature of crime films. It remains one of the best films of the 21st century , regardless of how you choose to interpret the ending.

Drive is available to rent or buy on Prime Video in the U.S.

WATCH ON PRIME VIDEO

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Observe Memorial Day with these events in southern Maine

Tons of towns have parades and ceremonies happening Monday.

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Kids and adults gather at a Memorial Day parade to honor and celebrate veterans in South Portland. Sofia Aldinio/ Staff Photographer

BATH 10 a.m. Monday. Parade begins at 200 Congress Ave. and concludes at Library Park and will be followed by a wreath-laying service at 11 a.m.

BERWICK 11 a.m. Monday. Parade begins at Berwick Town Hall/Sullivan Square and proceeds to Lord’s Cemetery by way of Wilson and Allen streets. After a ceremony there, the parade will continue down Saw Mill Hill Street with a pause at the Somersworth-Berwick Bridge for a brief memorial service for those lost at sea. The parade ends at Sullivan Square with a memorial service honoring area veterans.

BIDDEFORD-SACO Opening ceremony at 9:55 a.m. Monday at Saco City Hall. Parade starts at 10 a.m. from Saco City Hall and proceeds along Main Street and down York Hill into Biddeford, continues along Main Street, onto Alfred Street and finishes at Veteran’s Memorial Park with a closing ceremony at 10:45 a.m.

BRUNSWICK-TOPSHAM 9 a.m. Monday. Parade proceeds from Topsham Town Hall, pauses for observances while crossing the Brunswick-Topsham bridge, and concludes at the Brunswick Mall.

CAPE ELIZABETH 9 a.m. Monday. Parade begins at the middle school parking lot, turns right on Scott Dyer Road, right onto Route 77 and ends at the village green adjacent to the town hall. A brief ceremony and laying of the wreath will be held at the Village Green after the parade.

CUMBERLAND 8 a.m. Monday. Kids run at Greely High School followed by 5K Run and Remember race at 8:30 a.m. Parade starts at 10 a.m. at Mabel I. Wilson School and ends at the veterans’ monument in Moss Side Cemetery in Cumberland Center, where a ceremony will be held at 10:30 a.m. Advertisement

FALMOUTH 10 a.m. Monday. Parade proceeds from 65 Depot Road (Falmouth American Legion) to Pine Grove Park, where a ceremony will be held.

FREEPORT 9:30 a.m. Monday. Parade proceeds from Holbrook Street, heads north on Main and makes a right onto School Street, then right onto Park Street, ending in Memorial Park. There will be a small ceremony in Memorial Park starting at 10 a.m.

GORHAM 11 a.m. Monday. Parade starts at Village School (12 Robie St.) and ends at Eastern Cemetery on Johnson Road.

GRAY 11:30 a.m. Monday. Parade leaves the Russell School (8 Gray Park), proceeds to Shaker Road and continues to the Soldiers Monument at the intersection of Routes 26 and 3 for a wreath-laying ceremony. Parade continues north to the American Legion Post (15 Lewiston Road) for a closing ceremony.

LYMAN 1 p.m. Monday. Parade starts at Waterhouse Road/Mill Pond in Goodwins Mills and ends at the Lyman Town Hall on South Waterboro Road.

NEW GLOUCESTER 9 a.m. Monday. Parade leaves from Memorial Elementary School (86 Intervale Road) and heads down Intervale Road to Route 100/202 to Veterans Park for a memorial service. The parade will reconvene and go down Peacock Hill Road, then take a left on Gilmore Road. Advertisement

OLD ORCHARD BEACH 1 p.m. Monday. Parade starts at the corner of Ballpark Way and E. Emerson Cumming Boulevard and proceeds down Saco Avenue, Old Orchard Beach Street to First Street and ends at Veteran’s Memorial Park.

PORTLAND 2 p.m. Monday. The procession starts at Longfellow School (432 Stevens Ave.) and ends at Evergreen Cemetery for a commemoration ceremony.

SANFORD 10 a.m. Monday. The parade starts at the Sanford Armory (88 William Oscar Emery Drive), proceeds up Gowen Park Drive and ends at Central Park.

SCARBOROUGH 10 a.m. Monday. Parade starts at Scarborough High School, turns onto Route 114 and then Route 1, past town offices to the Maine Veterans Home and concludes with a ceremony there.

SOUTH PORTLAND 10:30 a.m. Monday. Parade starts at Southern Maine Community College parking lot, proceeds down Broadway to the Veterans Monument for a short Memorial Day recognition service.

WELLS 9 a.m. Monday. Parade starts at Wells High School (200 Sanford Road) and proceeds to Ocean View Cemetery for a ceremony and musical performances. Advertisement

WESTBROOK 10 a.m. Monday. Parade proceeds down Main Street and will be followed by a ceremony in Riverbank Park.

WINDHAM 9 a.m. Monday. Parade starts at Windham Town Hall and proceeds onto Route 202 toward Windham High School. At 10 a.m., there will be a ceremony in front of Windham’s Veterans Memorial Flagpole at Windham High School.

YARMOUTH 10 a.m. Monday. Parade leaves from Yarmouth High School (286 West Elm St.) and proceeds to the Memorial Green at Town Hall for a ceremony.

YORK 10 a.m. Monday. Parade starts near St. Christopher’s Church (4 Barrell Lane) and proceeds down York Street to York Town Hall.

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