American indie cinema currently seems to have a fascination with fraternal tensions. And if they can be magnified by being contained within a car or hotel room, so much the better. So Passenger Side, an aimless road trip featuring two estranged brothers, seems familiar. However, while it has much in common with The Puffy Chair and the like, Passenger Side is one of the better examples of the bro-trip. The dialogue is viciously passive-aggressive, the kind of well-aimed sniping that suggests that both men know each other’s weakest spots; the film’s climax is an unexpectedly cruel blow to their chances of reconciling.
Matt Bissonnette, 15, 85 mins