Canadian film-maker Michael Pierro makes his feature debut with Self Driver, a low-to-no-budget sortie that offers a modern-day Travis Bickle nightmare. Though flawed and in need of script development, it adds up to a pertinent satirical comment on the gig economy and the Waymo-isation of the service industry.
A Desperate Driver's Dilemma
Nathaniel Chadwick plays the everyguy role of a Toronto driver working for an Uber-style app. Slumped in his hoodie at the wheel, he is deeply depressed about providing for a partner and baby at home, avoiding calls from his landlord, and exhausted by rude customers who throw up in his car. He would prefer to be paid daily rather than weekly, but that would require upgrading to a higher platinum level, paying a non-returnable membership fee for questionable perks. He cannot afford it, offering an interesting insight into Uber world.
The Sinister App
A mysterious customer gives him a card: would he like to work for a new kind of app-ride service? Potentially thousands of dollars a night, but no questions asked. Our hapless hero signs up and instantly realizes it is an illegal courier service. The new app installed on his phone gives no names, addresses, or maps, only chillingly blank instructions: go straight, turn left, with fee deductions for the slightest infringement.
Escalating Bizarreness
What he is expected to do becomes even more bizarre, especially when the app tells him to vacate the driver's seat and get in the back with the customer. However, the movie's excursion into violence becomes silly and less interesting. An otherwise diverting exercise in less-is-more film-making.
Self Driver is on digital platforms from 11 May.
