Self Driver – Review | Fantasia (4/5)

SELF DRIVER is a thriller with a low budget but a great story, fascinating performances, and a solid runtime. Don’t miss it! Screening at Fantasia 2024. Read our full Self Driver movie review here!

SELF DRIVER is screening at Fantasia 2024, and it just may be one of the best surprises so far. It’s a feature film debut by the director and made with a low budget, but the quality is impressive in every aspect.

The story may be simple but when it’s this well executed, I won’t ask for anything more. It reminded me of the reality TV show (almost from before the concept of “reality TV” existed) called “Taxicab Confessions“. But with a brutally dark twist!

Continue reading our Self Driver movie review below.

The nightmare of gig-economy

In Self Driver, we meet a man struggling to make ends meet via gig-economy. Having recently lost his office job and welcomed a child into the family, he does whatever he can to earn a paycheck.

This movie is a brilliant pitch-black comedic thriller focusing on the issues of the current late-stage capitalist nightmare of the gig economy. We follow him as a driver for something reminiscent of Uber or Lyft when the film opens.

Then a customer recommends that he tries something else, which will earn him a lot more money. Instead of earning pocket change, he can earn thousands in one night.

How far would you go?

In Self Driver, it’s a question of survival in the financial sense. How far would you go to earn a living? Is there a line you just won’t cross? And how much would it take to make you consider crossing it anyway?!

These are the questions our lead character is faced with in a world where everything seems to have a price.

I love that this movie was shot on the late-night streets of Toronto. A true guerrilla production from start to finish. That’s what you do when your budget is limited, but your creativity and passion are limitless.

Watch Self Driver when you get the chance!

Michael Pierro is the writer and director of Self Driver, which makes me long to see what he does next. This was a fascinating and extremely entertaining movie with a deep and important message at the heart of it.

If this is what Michael Pierro can accomplish with a skeleton crew, a handful of compact lights, and a couple of Sony ZV1 cameras (a typical choice of bloggers), over the course of 14 nights, then imagine what he could do with more?!

Self Driver enjoyed its world premiere at the Fantaspoa International Genre Film Festival in Brazil. A film festival that tends to have some amazing titles. We’ve reviewed such crazy and brilliant titles as Follow Her for Fantaspoa coverage.

Still, Self Driver managed to take home the Best Film Award in the “Low Budgets, Great Films” competition. The movie will be released in its native Canada by Mongrel Media sometime in 2024.

We’ll update this post with more release information when we get it. Maybe Shudder or Screambox will nab it?!

We’re reviewing Self Driver as part of our Fantasia 2024 coverage.

Details

Director: Michael Pierro
Writer: Michael Pierro
Cast: Christian Aldo, Nathanael Chadwick, Catt Filippov, Welchner Lauren, Reece Presley