Review of the film 'The fare' (2018)

Harris is a taxi driver. His taxi is the typical New York yellow cab – but that's the only thing typical about it. He drives at night through foggy roads in the middle of the desert, listening to radio stations repeating the same things over and over. And then, a passenger named Penny vanishes from the taxi as if she was never there. Harris calls his dispatcher by radio, only to be told to reset the taximeter. Before he knows it, the same thing starts to happen again – only that Harris fails to remember it.

There is no doubt, this is a Fantasy story. Extraordinary things happen, but then they follow a logic that makes sense in its own way. Harris keeps picking up Penny and losing her every time in the same mysterious way, and every discovery he makes only seems to render the mystery thicker. There's a bit of trickery in the storytelling, though. At first it seems like Harris is caught in a time loop with Penny as his only passenger, but later it is revealed that there are many other passengers in between every Penny fare, only to be omitted by the storytelling.

This is a film of dialogues, not action. The story develops through the dialogue between Harris and Penny, which is witty and intelligent. Slowly, revelations will arise and ultimately all pieces will fall into place, drawing an impossible love story as impossible as only Fantasy allows for.

The director does an excellent job on achieving a supernatural, ghostly atmosphere for the film. The music is also good and suits the action perfectly. As for the acting, Gino Anthony Pesi is brilliant – he makes Harris a charming character that never gets boring even though he is so many minutes on-screen. Brinna Kelly makes a lovely Penny, and Jason Stuart does a good voice interpretation.

All in all, an excellent film. 4 out of 5.

Title:	The fare
Genre:	Fantasy
Year:	2018
Nationality:	USA
Colour:	Colour
Director:	D.C. Hamilton
Writer:	Brinna Kelly
Cast:	Gino Anthony Pesi, Brinna Kelly, Jason Stuart, Jon Jacobs, Matt Fontana
Producer:	D.C. Hamilton, Brinna Kelly, Gino Anthony Pesi, Kristin Starns
Co-producer:	David Midell
Cinematographer:	Josh Harrison
Film editor:	D.C. Hamilton
Music:	Torin Borrowdale
Running time:	82 minutes
Language:	English