The Passenger is a superbly executed piece of nihilism, featuring a pre-Bucket List pre-wacky Jack Nicholson. His uninhibited, organic and quietly angry performance reminds us why he was the poster child of the 70's anti-hero movement that changed movies forever, before they changed back. He is able to make his
highly implausible character switch with the dead gun runner completely relatable. His co-star Maria Schneider's spontaneity and honesty still rings resoundingly true more than thirty years later.This film has all the trappings of a mystery thriller on paper, but if you are not familiar with the Antonioni output, and require resolution and closure in your films, this film will disappoint and let you down at every turn. Instead, let it wash over you and start to get comfortable with ambiguity and randomness, as we all need to do in our lives. Ambiguity and randomness are Antonioni's big theme, running through all his films. The Passenger's selling points are the rich Spanish and African locations, shot in an objective and unromantic style, and the true and honest acting of its two leads. It's very long, but that's part of its beauty. The supporting plot points, including that of the quest of Nicholson's boss and wife to find him, do not add much to the film, especially when you realize how irrelevant they are to the final impact of the film. They seem to be Antonioni's device to suck us into getting caught up in a chase film, only to have our finely honed film going expectations utterly shattered on those craggy Spanish rocks.The long seven minute single shot that nearly ends the film (there's a quick shot afterwards) is quietly tragic and will haunt most viewers for all of their film going days. I re-screened the film after 20 years and it has never left me.
November 2, 2011
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