Without expecting it too much, Álex de la Iglesia once again convinces with a return to absurd and twistedly sharp comedy which also has everything to be accessible to the general public. ‘The fourth passenger’ is a pleasant surprise that also warns about the strange situations that can occur on a car journey.
In keeping with that spirit, our list today reviews some recommendable tapes that just take place in vehicles of this class, with the most varied and unexpected situations. Some with a certain intrigue, some also with their absurd touch. All quite varied and available on different streaming platforms.
‘The hitchhiker’ (‘The Hitch-Hiker’, 1953)
Address: Ida Lupine. Distribution: Edmond O’Brien, Frank Lovejoy, William Talman, José Torvay, Sam Hayes.
The masterpiece of the always vindicatable Ida Lupino is an exciting sample of film noir that in just one hour and eleven minutes it creates a perfect tension exercise. A group of travelers decide to take in a hitchhiker in his car, only to regret the decision shortly after the macabre game this unexpected psychopath decides to get them into.
Lupino knows how to enhance with precise narration, great tension management and excellent direction of actors what could easily be classified as a B movie to walk around the house. One of those films that deserve to be considered among the best noirs ever madewho knows how to create perfect situations in the reduced space of the car.
See on Filmin, on Cultpix and on Plex (free) | Criticism in Espinof
‘Night on Earth’ (‘Night on Earth’, 1991)
Address: Jim Jarmusch. Distribution: Winona Ryder, Gena Rowlands, Giancarlo Esposito, Rosie Pérez, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Béatrice Dalle, Roberto Benigni.
One of the great gems of Jim Jarmusch’s filmography, which not only takes place in a taxi but in five different ones around the world. One in Los Angeles, one in New York, one in Paris, one in Rome and one in Helsinki, with colorful and fascinating characters having interesting conversations during the journey.
The anthology format makes it easy to prefer some stories over others (the one from New York with Giancarlo Esposito, Rosie Pérez and Armin Mueller-Stahl or the one from Paris with a blind Béatrice Dalle are fabulous), but they all maintain a fairly high level . The key is how Jarmusch makes manners out of the extravagant, looking curiously at the peculiar and letting this breathe and develop naturally. A gem.
See on Filmin and on Movistar+ | Jim Jarmusch, American Minstrel
‘Locke’ (2013)
Address: Steve Knight. Distribution: Tom Hardy, Olivia Colman, Ruth Wilson, Andrew Scott, Tom Holland.
A true tour de force of Tom Hardy in one of his essential works, holding a intricate tension exercise on a car trip through its privileged protagonist and his telephone conversations. With well measured gestures, enunciation of dialogues and marked silences with all the intention, he manages to give the perfect support to this exercise by Steven Knight.
To be fair, Knight himself manages to make the film grow with a script calculated to the millimeter to maintain the intrigue at all times, making a real stripping of the layers of his main character in a refreshingly dark take on the classic road movie. An infallible movie that will surprise you and get caught up with every minute.
See on Amazon Prime Video and on Filmin | Criticism in Espinof