Label: Dread/Epic Pictures
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 82 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 & 2.0 with Optional English and Spanish Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: D.C. Hamilton
Cast: Gino Anthony Pesi, Brinna Kelly, Jason Stuart
Romantic mystery film The Fare (2018) opens in black and white monochrome with a nice-guy cab driver named Harris (Gino Anthony Pesi) driving on remote stretch of dirt road, the black and white lensing immediately gives the film a certain noir-ish tinge. Harris is talking with a gravelly voiced dispatch (Jason Stuart) on the CB while listening to a conspiracy talk radio on the topic of time-travelling aliens. He picks up his fare, a woman named Penny (Brinna Kelly) and the pair engage in some backseat chit chat, both noticing that there's a strange connection between the two, they have some instant chemistry. As they talk a storm looms on the horizon, and then Penny suddenly
disappears from the backseat cab in a flash of light, leaving Harrison in a bit of shock. After taking a few moments to recover from the jolt of the woman disappearing from his cab he resets his meter, and it is then that he learns that he's stuck in a bit of a time loop, with the driver endlessly picking up his mysterious fare over and over again, engaging in increasingly deeper conversations, only for her to disappear from the backseat.
The film is a strange bit of a love story with a cool Twilight Zone-ish sci-fi bent to it that pulled me right in. It's more or less a single-location film set inside a cab with only two characters, though we do eventually get a few more fares and some flashback sequences that fill in the story a bit, but for most of the 82-minutes this is a two-person show starring Gino Anthony Pesi, Brinna Kelly, and I think they both turned in stellar performances.
I came into this with some hesitation, a single-location film with small cast might have proven to be a bit of a slog, especially one with a potentially novel time-loop crutch, all of which screams under-funded indie film with too wide-eyes, but The Fare manages to succeed by creating wonderful characters who have more than a bit of mystery about them who are interesting from the get-go. During the endless loops together the pair begin to form a deeper bond, with the film's monochromatic look giving way to color as the characters find moments of clarity and recognition, which further fuels the mystery of the film.
While it's a dialogue driven film it's not the usual boring chit-chat, the characters and their exchanges not only feel natural and true but are interesting. The premise is simple yet mysterious, and it had me clutching at all sorts of theories, everything from an alien-influence to multi-verse and all sorts of stuff in between, and when the reality of the situation unfolds in the final stretch I was pleasantly surprised with where it took me.
I wont spoil it for you but if you dig romantic films with turns of Twilight Zone sci-fi and mythological tragedy The Fare is not your usual indie offering, this is a solid watch and comes highly recommended.
Audio/Video: The Fare (2019) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from the Epic Pictures imprint Dread framed in 2.35:1 widescreen in 1080p HD. The image looks solid, shot on digital there are no imperfections to deal with, clarity and depth look pleasing and fine detail is abundant. Audio comes by way of lossy English Dolby Digital 2.0 and 5.1, with optional English and Spanish subtitles.
As extras go this disc is pretty stacked by comparison to other releases from Dread I've watched. We a pair of audio commentaries, the first with director D.C. Hamilton, the second with star/writer Brinna Kelly. We also get a 5-min extended scene, a 2-min montage of unused footage, a 2-min original opening, a 1-min bit of the conspiracy talk radio heard in the film, a 3-min gag reel, and a 3-min breakdown of the flashback scene with storyboards. Most of these bits have an introduction or voice-over input from the director.
There are also two featurettes, we get a 9-min interview with the director and cinematographer Josh Harrison who discuss shooting the film, the color tones used in the film, the extensive planning that made the incredibly short six-day shoot possible, and shooting the day for night scenes, and using a drone and rear-projection on the film, it's cool stuff for those into the nitty-gritty of indie film making.
For those of us who didn't pay attention to Greek mythology in eight grade we have star and screenwriter Brinna Kelly who shows up for a 15-min deep dive into the film, going into the mythological themes of the film and pointing out a multitude of Easter eggs along the way. It's a great watch that added a lot to my second viewing of the film.
We also get a selection of trailers and a TV spot for the film in addition to four Dread trailers for other properties. The single-disc release comes housed in a standard non eco-lite keepcase with a one-sided sleeve of artwork, featuring the usual dread numbered spine.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with director D.C. Hamilton
- Audio Commentary with star/writer Brinna Kelly
- "Lost in the Fog" Extended Scene (5 min)
- Original Opening (2 min)
- Beyond FM (1 min)
- Flashback Scene Breakdown (3 min)
- Gag Reel (3 min)
- Secrets of The Fare with Brinna Kelly (15 min)
- The Look of The Fare with Director D.C. Hamilton and Cinematographer Josh Harrison (9 min)
- Alternate Realities: Unused Footage Montage (2 min)
Dread Trailers: Harpoon (1 min), Candy Corn (2 min), Automation (2 min), Red Letter Day (1 min)
- Trailer (2 min)
- Teaser (1 min)
- TV Spot (1 min)
The Fare (2019) was a real nice surprise, not a horror film by an means but an indie that deals with a time loop that manages to not only not be the same-old same-old but offers a tragic love-story story with some cool mythological and sci-fi bits that make this something more than just the usual fare, a definite recommend.