• Binge-watching may just be the perfect way to unwind as you await the new week
Image: AFP
The weekend is here and with it comes the opportunity to rest and re-strategise for the week ahead.
Some may choose to unwind and wash away the stress of a busy week by dancing the night at entertainment joints and drowning in a bottle or two, now that curfew has been lifted.
However, if you are an introvert like me, binge-watching movies or series might be a weekend well spent. Here are five car-themed movies or series you can watch to stir your love for everything automobile.
- 1. Formula 1: Drive to survive
This docu-series is not only a theoretical class on what happens in the Formula 1 industry but also an eyeopener on the psychological tussle experienced by the drivers, engineers, senior officials and family members. It is a sport where a career-threatening injury, or even death, is never far away, and this documentary provides viewers with an understanding of the adrenaline that characterises these races as every competitor sets sights on victory.
- 2. Initial D
By day, Takumi Fujiwara (Jay Chou) splits his time between his high school studies and doing deliveries for his father's tofu shop. However, at night, he is one of the most renowned drag racers in the streets of Tokyo. With the subplots in this movie, your emotions will be oscillating between the ecstasy and anxiety. The finesse with which the drag racers manoeuvre through the twists and turns of the roads may tempt you to take your own car for a spin in the night. Conversely, the risks they take in having fun may leave your mouth agape.
- 3. Drive
A mixture of romance, crime and fast cars, this movie has everything to keep you at the edge of your seat throughout. Driver (Ryan Gossling) is a stuntman by day but a getaway driver for criminals by night. His life takes a radical turn when he falls in love with his neighbour, Irene, whose ex-convict husband is entangled in dangerous dealings with mobsters. Soon, Driver inherits this enmity with these big-time gangsters who have vowed to kill Irene and her son. Before long, Driver is forced into extrajudicial measures to safeguard his newfound love.
- 4. Dazed and confused
A trip back to the 80s when the American party culture was epitomised by the high school lifestyle. If you are an enthusiast for classic cars, then you wouldn't mind looking past the booze and bhang that features in so many scenes of this 1993 movie. The 1972 Chevrolet C10, 1970 Pontiac GTO Judge and 1973 Plymouth Duster that appear in so many scenes will have you appreciating that old is gold.
- 5. Senna
"Have any of your girlfriends ever asked you to go faster?" This question exhibits the synonymity between legendary F1 driver Ayrton Senna and speed. One of the greatest F1 drivers in history, the Brazilian died in 1994 doing what he loved best, leaving behind a cult image in the industry. For F1 enthusiasts who had not yet been born when he started dominating the sport, this documentary provides us with life lessons on the pursuit of our passions.