In the chaos and the noise of big city at night, two loners will discover they might have something in common despite blatant differences.
A lonely man (Zé Adão Barbosa), new in town, takes the cab from a patient driver (Marcos Carbonell). They drive away from the loud noises and the
loud people everywhere, and reach a quiet destination where things take a dangerous turn. The passsenger from title wants to rob the hard working
driver, who keeps on convincing the other that his threats are pointless since they're both products of a system that exploits them. Can he get
away from this situation alive or not?
"Passageiros" ("Passengers") doesn't offer anything new, except for the discourse from the taxi driver and the plot twist that comes with
it, which analysis the conditions people are put into while trying to live their lives. It serves to audiences exhamine the scenario with both a
critical eye and also try to find the humor of it all - difficult but there's elements of humor in it.
The short film by Carlos Gerbase and Glênio
Póvoas owes a lot to Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" with its presentation of elements, the mysterious creatures of night that always seem to pose some
danger even in the distance while trying to get a cab. It's great looking with its style, the 1980's street scene of Rio Grande do Sul (Porto Alegre, maybe?)
which looks amazing. It's mostly style over substance, but it's harmless.
There are hints about the criticism on society, through the cut speech
of then Minister of Justice Paulo Brossard and the convincing ways from the driver, but it's a little superficial, doesn't stretch itself for too
long. Yet, those elements are the ones we think a little deeper as to what happens to society and people if the taxi driver proposal, of which I
won't reveal, gets accepted? A bigger chaos would rise, but the film extracts a dark comedy out of it and you may get a laugh at. 8/10.
