It’s been a very long time since I’ve been hit with a film that tests my own moral compass. However, Michael Pierro’s smartly written sleeper Self Driver will challenge anyone’s value system, especially when money is added to the mix.
Along the lines of ABC’s “What Would You Do?” we are introduced to an everyday man trying to make an honest living as a pseudo-Uber driver. It’s very clear from the get-go that income is low and he is under pressure to provide for his partner and their newborn baby girl in a metropolitan city of people who couldn’t care less about him.
While D (a gripping performance by Nathanael Chadwick) spends his night eating crap food and avoiding calls from his landlord, he sinks further into despair while picking up one obnoxious passenger after another. As the evening progresses, his self-esteem fades, hiding behind the growing anxiety and rage building within him. Money is the goal, and money will save the day. So, when one intriguing customer provides a “get rich quick” pitch to him before leaving a business card behind, D decides to approach this opportunity after the ensemble of insulting commuters drains him dry.
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Very simply put, D is instructed to download a secret app, which immediately registers him as a driver with limited direction. The policy thrown at D before he’s launched into this new world: ALWAYS follow the app; do NOT talk to the customers; do NOT turn down a job; if you quit in the middle of a job, you lose all the earned money up to that moment. Strange? Yes. Impossible? Certainly not.
Or so he thinks.
This new app raises red flags instantly when D notices there are no maps, no street names, and nothing offered outside of several commands: Drive to the highway; Turn Left/Turn Right; Stop Here, and several more directives which he quickly learns are VITAL to his monetary success.
Once he believes he has the hang of it, D picks up the first passenger, a beautiful young woman who changes into a peculiar “angel” costume, while challenging him to refrain from speaking to her. As the car approaches an extremely seedy location drop-off point, she hesitantly requests D to wait for her return. Is she an opening act at a bachelor’s party? A sex worker? We have no idea, except for her discomfort, which emulates fear and uneasiness across her pretty face. All well and good from D’s ethics that he plans to fulfill her request to ensure her safety. Until the app takes precedence and demands he go forward to the next pickup.
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While the fares escalate into high-cost conditions, the depravity takes over, and D is forced to reevaluate his own conscience within the integrity he’s losing alongside the money. Is all this really worth it? More importantly, what will happen next if he continues down this risky path to wealth by burying his own scruples for a buck? Trust me, you’ll be rooting for the app at the start, but you will be begging D to take back control before it’s too late.
Self Driver is one of the smartest and most unique psychological experiences I’ve encountered in several years. The minimalistic value of a driver circumnavigating his way through a “too good to be true” dilemma makes your head spin. Adding drugs, violence, and an array of sordid situations to D’s job only proves the old adage, “What would you do for some quick and easy money? ” Such a simple question has a very scary answer, at least in D’s passenger seat.
Self Driver is out now on VOD.
Summary
Self Driver is one of the smartest and most unique psychological experiences I’ve encountered in several years. The minimalistic value of a driver circumnavigating his way through a “too good to be true” dilemma makes your head spin.
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