NIGHT FARE

France, 2015, 80 minutes, Colour.
Jonathan Howard, Jonathan Demurger, Fanny Velette, Jean- François Lenogue, Jess Llaudin.
Directed by Julien Seri.

Night Fare is a brief drama, not going in the direction that audiences might expect.

The setting is Paris, an English friend returning to the city after two years, meeting up with a local friend, encountering his former girlfriend whom he had abandoned. They party, decide to get a taxi, the Frenchman mischievously refusing to pay and rushing off. Which leads to the taxi driver stalking the two men, threatening them, threatening the girl friend, eventually taking them in his taxi. There is also an interlude with the police to stop the men, taking their money, one refusing to take the stolen money.

Then there is quite a turn in the film, moving into quite striking animations sequences. These tell a myth about criminals, their crimes, being pursued, their atonement, turning into vigilantes whose task it is to drive the taxi, stop crime, and repeat the process of pursuing perpetrators of crimes.

The latter part of the film is unexpected and quite interesting, the close-up of the taxi driver, the flashbacks to his own story and treatment, passing on a book with the animated story and recruiting new vigilantes – the film ending with huge fleets of taxis driving along the Paris streets.

1. A nightmare story? Ordinary characters, destructive behaviour, agility pursuit, the move into the mythical?

2. Paris, the city, vistas, at night, the taxi? The bus station, the streets? Parties? The pursuit and vengeance? The musical score?

3. The transition to the animated narrative? The style of animation? The touch of the sinister? The violent? Mythical?

4. Chris arriving from London, absent two years, Luke and his reaction, Ludovine and her distance? Going to the party, drinking? Chris talking with Ludovine, the phone contact? Leaving the party, the car, deciding to get the taxi? Cocaine, travel, Luc refusing to pay? Chris trapped, leaving his bag, the escape?

5. The taxi driver, seen in the darkness, not saying anything? The refusal to pay the fare, his continued pursuit, stalking the men? They going to the party, the criminal going out, the sword? His death on the footpath? The continued pursuit, the taxi driver taking Ludovine and tying her up, the freeing her? The police, taking the money, dividing it up, the officer who refused – and his later being freed by the driver after his killing the others, the police car, the two men fighting? The dead officer in the back of the car?

6. The finally being captured, getting into the car, Luc being imprisoned? In his cell, naked, tormented, the food? The book being handed over and he’s reading it? Engrossed?

7. The animated story, the mythology of crime and punishment? The involvement of the criminal, his being taken, imprisoned, reading the book, the parallel with Luke?

8. Luke, identifying with the story, the continuation of the vigilantes, each taking the place of the other? Luc and Chris, the flashback to the crime, harassing the homeless man, setting him alight? Chris, alone with his memories and regrets, the burning man?

9. Luc going out, vigilantes, stopping the fight? The visuals of the large fleet of cars of vigilantes?

10. The nightmare, the crime, conscience, crime and punishment, the moral tone?