Films: Passenger Side

Passenger Side

Canada, 2009, 85 Minute Running Time
Genre/Subjects: Comedy, Drama, Family Issues, Social Issues
Programs: Contemporary World Cinema, New Directors Showcase
Language: English

DIRECTOR: Matthew Bissonnette
Producer: Corey Marr
Editor: Matthew Hannam
Screenwriter: Matthew Bissonnette
Cinematographer: Jonathon Cliff
Principal Cast: Adam Scott, Joel Bissonnette, Robin Tunney, Gale Harold, Greg Dulli, Rachael Santhon

The setting of this quirky, funny road movie is the county of Los Angeles – from the city to the surrounding desert. Along for the ride are two estranged siblings: overbearing older brother Michael (Adam Scott) has reluctantly agreed to ferry Tobey (Joel Bissonnette) to various destinations, ostensibly to accomplish chores his younger brother can’t handle himself because his car has broken down. Tobey’s an actor and a recovering addict; Michael’s a novelist whose only book sank like a stone shortly after it was published. Their chitchat runs from hockey talk to riffs on the sexiness quotient of the Bush administration. But it’s Michael’s birthday, and this isn’t exactly how he’d planned to celebrate.
As events unfold, it becomes clear that the agenda of the trip isn’t what it seemed – and that issues of trust are going to resurface just as the brothers are forging a new bond. Various mysterious encounters with off-the-radar oddballs, appearing at first to be part and parcel of their haphazard adventure, prove in the film’s final moments to be tightly woven threads in the real story, one that has only been hinted at all along. 
Scott, also appearing at this year’s festival in The Vicious Kind, earned high praise for his role opposite Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly in Step Brothers; Joel Bissonnette’s numerous TV appearances include The Mentalist and House. And the latter’s brother, writer/director Matthew Bissonnette (Who Loves the Sun, SDFF 29), puts them both to good use here. Granted, luck was on his side throughout the production’s 14 days of filming: his crew was stopped twice by police for lacking permits and being in areas forbidden to filmmakers – but on both occasions, officers relented and let the cameras roll.

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