Review: The Fare

Director: D. C. Hamilton

Screenplay: Brinna Kelly

Year: 2019

I spent quite some time debating if I should include a review of “The Fare” on this page. The main reason for this, and that at the same time serves as an explanatory note, is that this isn’t by any means a horror movie. The reason why I finally decided to include it is because of how good it is.

In “The Fare”, Harris is a taxi driver that one night picks up Penny in the middle of nowhere. The interest of Harris for Penny takes them to get immersed in a conversation until she disappears for no apparent reason. Frustrated and confused by the event, Harris resets his meter, which takes him to relive the event that leads him to pick up Penny again. They both discover that they are trapped in a never ending taxi ride, in which many secrets are revealed.

During the whole movie, the great dedication and care put into it are palpable. The director D. C. Hamilton (“The Midnight Man”) takes the excellent script of also star Brinna Kelly (“The Midnight Man”) and compliments its virtues creating a suspenseful atmosphere accompanied by a beautiful but gloomy cinematography that presents attractive and interesting visuals that are used to play with perspective and colors. Besides the visuals, the plot feeds from the excellent acting that Hamilton manages to get from his cast.

The main cast is composed of only two people, Harris and Penny, interpreted by Gino Anthony Pesi (“Battle Los Angeles”) and Brinna Kelly, but the work of them both is so good that it doesn’t need anyone else on the screen. The chemistry between them is fundamental for the viewer to get interested in the plot, and along Hamilton’s direction, they not only get the viewer interested but keep him in the border of the seat. This is even more impressive in a movie with only two protagonists reliving an event multiple times that never gets boring.

Although it’s not without some minor flaws, the highest point of this movie is the screenplay. It is intelligently crafted, putting a lot of care into details and using them to play with the expectations and hypotheses that can be developed about what is going on. The revelations are impactful and unpredictable, but after seeing them they can be connected to events in the rest of the movie that lead to them and achieves that watching it a second time is a completely different experience.

“The Fare” handles itself as a romantic thriller, with some slight brushes of horror movie elements and an atmosphere and cinematography full of suspense. With one of the best scripts I have seen in independent cinema during this year, it takes you deep into its interesting and captivating story. The magnificent work of the cast and director only emphasizes the great qualities of the script and turns out to be an excellent movie that many would want to watch more than once to pick out all of the hidden details impossible to see completely in just one watch.

"The Fare" will be available from Epic Pictures and 501 Films in digital platforms in November 19, 2019. For more information visit their webpage.