The new film “Learning to Drive” is set to open nationwide this Friday. The much-publicized independent film, starring Ben Kingsley and Patricia Clarkson, has already met with rave reviews at film festival screenings, and garnered top awards at both the Toronto Film Festival and the Provincetown festival.
Now Vineyard audiences will get a chance to be among the first to see the film and have the opportunity to meet the screenwriter, two-time Academy Awardwinner Sarah Kernochan, during a Q & A following the film screening on Wednesday, August 26.
The Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival (TMVFF) has extended its season with the addition of the film in order to take advantage of the screenwriter’s presence on the Island.
Ms. Kernochan and her husband, Pulitzer Prizewinning playwright James Lapine, split their time between New York City and an Edgartown home which has been in her family since 1945. The screenwriter, documentarian, musician, and novelist finds the Island the to be the ideal place to write.
“No matter how long I’ve been here, you always have to carry me off,” she says.
Daughter Phoebe Lapine, a successful food writer and blogger who is currently working on her second book, to be published by Random House later this year (her first was “In the Small Kitchen: 100 Recipes from Our Year of Cooking in the Real World”), also spends time writing on the Island.
Ms. Kernochan’s screenwriter credits include “9½ Weeks,” “What Lies Beneath,” “Sommersby,” and “Impromptu,” among others. She won her first Academy Award for the documentary “Marjoe” at the age of 25. In 2002, she won a second Oscar — Best Documentary Short Subject — for “Thoth,” an up-close and personal look at the unique musician and street performer who is now part of the duo Tribal Baroque (who will be performing at the Union Chapel on Sept. 5 and 6).
In between screenwriting, Ms. Kernochan released two albums of her original songs, published two novels and wrote, produced and/or directed 10 films. She even provided most of the music for her film “All I Wanna Do,” a film set in the 1960s about a group of friends at an all-girls’ school who learn that their school is going to be combined with a nearby boys’ school.
Ms. Kernochan’s latest film had its premiere this past Monday in New York, where it was enthusiastically received. As smart as it is charming and funny, “Learning to Drive” brings together two people from very different backgrounds. Darwan (Ben Kingsley) is a Sikh political refugee who drives a cab when not giving driving lessons. Wendy (Patricia Clarkson) is a well-to-do literary critic living on the Upper West Side.
Ms. Clarkson’s character is reeling from the breakup of her 21-year marriage. Mr. Kingsley’s is an educated foreigner working at a menial job, and going through personal problems of his own. While she’s emotional, vulnerable, and prone to outbreaks of rage (both on the road and off) he’s the epitome of calm and rational, despite his history of persecution and his position as the frequent victim of ugly racist attacks.
The two make a perfect screen pairing in a relationship that’s far from predictable rom-com fare. But, of course, there are sparks, and the big question is, Will those sparks ignite? This provides the film’s tension and ultimate denouement. Along the way, the sometimes bumpy ride provides plenty of pathos, insight, and intelligent conversation, as well as many very funny one-liners.
Ms. Kernochan wrote the screenplay a decade ago, and watched it go through the hands of eight different directors before Isabel Coixet was brought onboard. The screenwriter adapted the bones of a short story by Katha Pollitt as a star vehicle for Ms. Clarkson. “I seriously did not think this movie would ever get made,” she says. “The producers and the star never gave up.”
Ms. Kernochan has great admiration for the two stars of her film. Of Mr. Kingsley, she says, “He’s just impeccable. He never fails.”
To prepare for his role, the actor spent time in the Sikh community in New York. “Like me, he was very passionate about educating people to look at Sikhs in a different way,” says Ms. Kernochan, who did a great deal of personal research for her Indian character. She ultimately became friends with a man she describes as the “political mouthpiece” for the Sikh community in Queens: “He was a divine man [she means that literally] who opened up an entire world to me.”
Ms. Kernochan learned a great deal about the persecution of the Sikhs in India, and the climate in that country which led to so many becoming political refugees. She discovered firsthand how some Americans equate a turban with terrorism. Speaking to Ms. Kernochan about the Sikh population, one discovers that she has a vast knowledge of their history, and a real respect for their traditions and philosophies.
Ms. Kernochan has been a fan of Ms. Clarkson’s for a long time. “I knew what she could do, and I knew she could handle a multilayered character. Patty always brings out the aching humanity under an abrasive personality. The pathos of the character is there from the beginning. Then she becomes more and more sympathetic.”
As tender and funny as the film is, what makes it a real standout is the strong, complex character that Ms. Kernochan has created in her female protagonist. And the very versatile Ms. Clarkson proves that an older actress can be equally sexy, funny, and smart.
Don’t be surprised to see both actress and screenwriter earning further recognition from the Academy of Motion Pictures for their involvement with this lovely little film with big potential.
“Learning to Drive” will be screened at the Chilmark Community Center on Wednesday, August 26, at 7:30, followed by a discussion with screenwriter Sarah Kernochan. Visit tmvff.org for tickets.
For more information on Ms. Kernochan, visit her blog at sarahkernochan.com. It provides a compelling story of her exploration of the world of the occult as well as an account of her personal and professional life — the former is as fascinating as that of any of her fictional characters.