INDIE MOVIE REVIEW FROM CINEQUEST: PASSENGER C

 PASSENGER C 

In production on "Dallas Buyers Club" and "Lee Daniel's The Butler", Cassian Elwes encountered an unruly passenger mid-flight. This film reconstructs the disturbing incident, the traumatizing aftermath and a surprising redemption.

Wrtier/Director Cassian Elwes
Director of Photography: Andrew Parke

Editor: Paul Buhl, Kyle Tekiela 
Stars: Jon Jacobs, Éric Bruneau, Mary-Boner Baker 

WHAT THIS FILM DOES WELL: You don't often get to see a movie in where there's a signifigant amount of dramatic reenactment, like that of a day time talk show or a murder-mystery, true crime show and be fascinated to the enth degree with it. I would also say you don't often see one based on a twitter feed but actually that's not the case anymore (severasl indies have been out in the last 3 years based on that). The nice thing about all that though is the storytelling while built in is really there for success and Cassian Elwes, who lived this experience, had full control of the idea and how to tell it and doesn't take that for granted here. It plays not as a retelling but as a strong narrative setup in a pseudo documentary style that tows the line of fictional boundaries like they were the great horizon or fourth wall. Not to mention he knows what makes a good story and good movie, having produced some of the best in Indie cinema in the last 10-15 years. That being said it still is a first time director, directing a movie wherein another actor is playing him and all the people in Cassian's lives are also real people, including Passenger C (Marco), played brilliantly by Eric Bruneau. That can be nerveracking for everyone involved and that never showed here.

What really works for this movie, coupled with the storytelling, is some amazing silent and still moments that are jarred into a dialogue or action moment that really give you this unique tension, awkwardness, and realistic, authentic truth that radiates right off the screen. I think this could have been blown up into a full on reentactment with voiceover or the tweets themselves on screen and that would feel so much less of a movie. The choice to lean into the cinematic and the documentarian-esque style using the actors and shots to convey this, was a brilliant and better choice. It really plays like even though most would know it really happened, and the person it happened to is telling the story there's still a little movie magic fairy dust sprinkled on it to just give you enough pause to create a creative license that is there but really isn't there, and get you lost in all of it. That's a good movie. The further choice to present it in Black & White gives it this fever dream element that again plays with the boundaries of what's real and what's made up. Jon Jacobs, who carries this movie as Cassian, is a strong presence that shows a lot of range, especially within in the vunerable, tortured, and brave elements that when he gets a moment to just kind of be still its that choice he makes as an actor that helps Cassian (the director not the character) frame and create that movie magic. There is an incredible scene in which his son-in-law has this earnest, real conversation with him that creates a foreshadowing element that you can't believe real life is that close to great storytelling and yet here it is for us all to see.

WHY CHAMPION THIS MOVIE: Cassian Elwes has been doing this for a bit now and given us some of the best stories to be told there could possibly be and helped all them breath life into the screen, so its only fitting that here is something that really happened to him that we can champion too. This is not a braggard or self indulgent piece, this is an honest betrayal and a truthful vulenerable moment in the life of a blessed human and with that we can ourselves gather a lot from it by watching this. I also think if you are filmmaker or want to be a filmmaker this is one of those artistic strokes that shows you how to paint a real picture and still tell a narrative story without the subject being a mocked up visual necessity. It's very nicely timed and touches on so many interesting ideals both on and off screen.  

YOU CAN FOLLOW THIS MOVIE'S JOURNEY HERE