THE PASSENGER

US, 2023, 93 minutes, Colour.

Johnny Berchtold, Kyle Gallner, Liza Weil.

Directed by Carter Smith.

The Passenger is basically a two-hander road movie. However, it is an intriguing journey, destination unknown.

One character, young, timid, played by Johnny Berchtold effectively, wakes up, goes to work in a diner, is humiliated, but suddenly becomes a witness to a massacre of the staff. And this is perpetrated by one of the staff, mysterious, growing more sinister, erratic, violent, played by Kyle Gallner.

Other characters in the film include the young man’s mother, a visit to her, his dependence on her. And, there are unusual characters along the way.

While there is the local scenery to look at, there is a great deal of conversation throughout the film, the young man continually intimidated, eventually making a decision that precipitates a graphic climax. The erratic, violent man also gets the opportunity to make speeches – especially in connection with people along the way, a waitress in a diner whom he insults and later harrasses, a former teacher whom he brutalises …

But, the ultimate goal of the journey is to find a former teacher, the young man having accidentally blinded her in one eye in an incident at the school, her being persecuted and hounded out – and, now, 10 years later, with a daughter, confronting the two.

This is one of those films, because of the uncertainty of the destination, demands attention – and, would probably be even more interesting on a second viewing.

1. Title, Randy Bradley, life and background, problems, the encounter with Benson, the journey, his decisions?
2. The small town setting, the diner, homes, the streets, travelling the countryside, the school office and corridors, the scenes in the diner…? The musical score?
3. The story of Randy Bradley, unprepossessing, getting up, the dominance of his mother, going to work, observing, Chris and his bullying, making Bradley chew the old hamburger, his submission to Chris, shock, Benson and the killings, Benson not shooting him, helping stow the bodies in the freezer? The conversations with Benson, Benson taking him in the car? People calling him Bradley, his slowness in giving his actual name?
4. Benson, cleaning in the diner, observing, the confrontation with Chris, intervening, killing Chris, the girl, shooting the manager in his office? The bodies? His psychopathic behaviour?
5. The journey, Benson driving, Randy as passenger, quiet, Benson and his moods, the visit to the diner, Randy reluctant, the waitress, Benson turning on her, abusive, the later return to the diner, the waitress wanting him out, Benson defiant, shooting and wounding her?
6. Randy and the visit to his mother, dominating, the later phone calls?
7. The discussion with Benson about girlfriends, confessing to having the girlfriend, going to visit her, her work, the stuffed toys, awkwardness, the two men working, the blue crocodile, Randy and the conversation, her reasons for breaking the friendship?
8. The long conversation between the two about Randy and his memories, seven years old, Miss Beards, the behaviour, the slingshot, his anger, singled out, Miss Beards and the eye wound, losing her eye, the patch, the ridicule by the children, by the other teachers, a leave of absence? Years passing? Teaching again?
9. The visit to the school, Benson persuasive to get the address from the receptionist? The teacher, Benson identifying him, following him out, the brutal bashing and shooting? Randy and his non-involvement?
10. Miss Beards, the eyepatch, welcoming Randy, the joy of her daughter, her story, the divorce, accepting the situation, returning to teach? Welcoming the visitors, cup of tea, the conversation? Benson and his sense of menace? Randy taking the phone? The threats to is one Beards, the abduction, Benson silencing her?
11. The visit to the diner again, Randy saying he want to go to the toilet, making the phone call to the police, the shooting, the siren, Randy looking at Benson, telling him that he called the police? Benson and his pause, thinking, going out, the police, shooting him?
12. Randy later, the phone call from his mother, visiting Miss Beards, playing with her daughter, changing him, the assertion in calling the police, defying Benson?