Dir. Matthew Bissonnette, Canada, 85 mins, 2009
Cast: Adam Scott, Joel Bissonnette, Vitta Quinn, Kimberley Huie
Review by Matthew Rodgers
It’s amazing that this little Canadian road movie has been given theatrical distribution, albeit on a level at which only a handful of people will get the chance to see it, because it is an extremely ordinary story told in an effortlessly charming way, and the sort of film that will find a midnight slot on Film4 some months down the line. So congratulations are in order to Axiom Films for putting this two year old festival indie out there to become the mismatched travel movie that the mega-bucks Due Date could only dream of being.
Essentially a very simple tale of two brothers driving around Los Angeles on a sun-kissed day at the behest of Tobey (played by director Bissonnette younger brother Joel), who wishes to track down the love of his life. The big brother is Michael (Scott), a snarky, judgmental writer who questions his brother’s motivations and life choices due to his past as a drug user; he is now a reformed Scientologist (which is worse?). Driving around the undulating landscape, the two realise that as with all road movies, the journey is not necessarily one of A to B, but an emotional one. But trust me; it’s so much better than that clichéd synopsis.
The reason for this is the winning two-hander of Scott and Bissonette; their’s is a relationship not pandered to for the audience. It is an easy, honest pairing which hints at underlying conflict that doesn’t ever really need to be explained through lazy writing. Dialogue such as “you’re my brother, I love you, etc” is exchanged in such a natural way that even the more conventional narrative mechanisms of this genre, that creep in towards the end, are forgiven because you’re invested in them.
Scott has always been on the periphery of the doing great things; most will recognise him from Step Brothers, as the Guns N Roses singing brother of Will Ferrell’s character, or the ironic action hero from last year’s Piranha 3-D. But this, coupled with his rising prominence in ace US TV import Parks and Recreation, should hopefully see him achieve more prominence in the future; he’s a likeable, understated performer.
Bissonette is another who is familiar with acting bit-parts; Passenger Side is his subtle calling card to announce he’s a talent to watch out for. There is nothing flash about the film and at times it can annoy with its indie credentials – the soundtrack in particular appears to be from “101 Indie Anthems that you won’t have heard of”, – but small touches, such as the camera lingering after our travellers have passed out of shot, possibly symbolising the meaningless of their travails (there are discussions of an existential “what’s it all about?” variety), are wonderfully effective.
You won’t see it, heck, you probably won’t be able to find a screen outside of the capital that’s showing it, but if you do come across it in the late night listings or your local flea pit, disappointment won’t be an issue.
