Penny Thoughts ‘13—Orange Drive (2011) ***½

NR, 11 min.

Director: Mark Lester

Writers: Mark Lester, Chad Reinacher

Starring: Chad Reinacher, Jordan Dunn, Libe Barer, Leah Munson

There is a time in our American lives when we have a special relationship with our cars. It is usually when we are younger and closer to that point when we first obtained a license. It is a time when everything we do seems to happen with our car. “Orange Drive” is a short film that perfectly captures this special relationship and the relationships that take place within that one.

There is only one scene in the film that doesn’t take place within the car. Throughout most of the film the camera is set up on the hood of the car, looking through the front window. A kid has just gotten his car and apparently is the one in his group of friends that has wheels. The entirety of the film is a montage of scenes from inside that car. At first its just four guys hanging out in the car, playing their own stupid games and in-jokes with each other. At one point girls enter the picture and then the two guys in the back seat are replaced by dates for the two main friends. Soon differences develop between the two friends, and then it is just the girlfriend riding around with our driver. Then another girl enters the picture. The first relationship ends, and soon the kid is by himself in his car with only his memories of driving around with friends.

I remember these days from my own life. My friends and I even made our own movie of one of our nighttime drive adventures. This film gets it right in the way music guides much of what is done, in the way one of the friends is the one who is picked on most, in the way that the juvenile relationships are eventually replaced by attempts at more mature relationships, even in the way that there is some point when you realize the real relationship is with the car, and that relationship isn’t real at all.

Watch the film in its entirety below.