Passenger Side

Reviewed by J. Lunden on November 4, 2010

Writer/director Matt Bissonnette’s Passenger Side takes place mostly within a grotty BMW while the forgotten corners of a decidedly glossless Los Angeles drift by. But before we enter the confines of the old Bimmer, the film begins with a long shot of a telephone ringing and ringing . . . and ringing. Eventually Michael (Adam Scott), an semi-successful writer, caves and answers the phone with a lethargic “fuck you.” On the other end of the line is Michael’s estranged younger brother Tobey (Joel Bissonnette), a recovering drug addict. The two brothers—who emigrated to LA from Canada eight years ago— probably haven’t spoken in weeks if not months, but their caustic communication picks up right where we assume it left off. “No, I’m not afraid that it could have been mom, because she wouldn’t have let the phone ring, like, five million times. Because she’s not a dickhead.”

This steady stream of barbed sarcasm continues after Michael reluctantly agrees to shuttle Tobey around LA on “job interviews.” Michael is rightly skeptical, and becomes convinced that Tobey is using him (and his functional car) to secure drug connections. The truth reveals itself to be far more devastating.

Set to a soundtrack of songs by Silver Jews, Leonard Cohen and Wilco, just to name a few, their road trip is a mixture of guarded, often encoded conversations and encounters with eccentric LA natives (a masturbating transsexual, wounded migrant workers, inebriated neocons, etc.). While some of these quirky intruders are funny, they occasionaly distract from the essential performances that the film requires to function.

As the awkward brothers, Adam Scott and Joel Bissonnette invoke an immediate patina of shared history, replete with familial wounds. Bissonnette plays the life-weary but optimistic Tobey with an endearing edge. He’s kind and has an almost messianic need to help others. He also looks as if he could shatter at any moment. Scott has been a particular favorite of mine since his role on the ill-fated television series, Party Down (I’ll stop bringing it up once they make more seasons, dammit!). Here he plays the older, more educated Michael like a condemned man whose veneer of literate evaluations and cynical observations barely hides his crushing fear of life’s momentum. Bissonnette and Scott carry the film, especially when the script meanders and the filmmakers dwell too long on loving-but-overly ponderous shots of LA. The best scenes are those in which the brothers explore their contrasts and contradictions: Tobey’s often dangerous lust for life, Michael’s self-alienation and embittered fearfulness, and the affection, however fragile, they obviously have for each other.

Passenger Side isn’t an entirely successful film in that it fails to maintain the emotional reverberations I feel writer/director Matt Bissonnette was intent on achieving. His overly episodic story seemed sure of its direction, but not of its path. Still, I enjoyed my time on the road and was especially grateful that Bissonnette fought the urge to place Talking Heads’ “Road to Nowhere” over the credits.

Passenger Side comes to DVD with a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is anamorphically enhanced. The disc is dual-layered, progressive and has an average video bitrate of 6.31Mbps.

Strand’s transfer boasts nice color accuracy and good detail. Black levels can become murky at times and there is some noise present. I noticed some slight aliasing and there may have been some digital sharpening applied, as I spotted a few halos. Many of the driving scenes utilize green screen work, so there are moments where the elements look rather disconnected (though I believe that was the intended look). The film does look good given its modest budget, but I think its original HD elements would greatly benefit from a Blu-ray presentation.

Passenger Side is presented here with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 track at 192Kbps.

The stereo track presents dialogue clearly, though there are a few muffled moments. Ambient noise is never overwhelming and there is very little hiss. The film’s excellent soundtrack is reproduced well.

Commentary:
The commentary features writer/director Matt Bissonnette and actors Adam Scott and Joel Bissonnette. This is an amusing track, but the conversation is far too anecdotal. The participants spend a lot of time joking about shooting, past projects, etc. At some point, the director even wonders aloud if people have already turned off the commentary. Nope. I listened to the whole thing. And, yes, I do remember Scott from Hellraiser 4.

The Making of Passenger Side (10min):
An above average making-of doc that distinguishes itself by revealing more about the shoot than the commentary.

Mac + Jim from Superchuck & Portastatic: Live at the Royal (27min):
This is a short film of the performance given by Mac McCaughan and Jim Wilbur that followed a screening of Passenger Side at Toronto’s Royal Theatre. The short is presented in anamorphic widescreen with Dolby stereo sound.

Theatrical Trailer:
The film’s theatrical trailer, presented in anamorphic widescreen.

[Click images for full resolution captures]