Posoki (2017)

Directed by: Stephan Komandarev | 103 minutes | drama | Actors: Anna Komandareva, Vassil Vasilev–Zuek, Ivan Barnev, Borislava Stratieva, Georgi Kadurin, Assen Blatechki, Irini Jambonas, Vasil Banov

What makes taxis so suitable as inspiration for TV and film makers? Is it the revealing conversations between customer and driver, is it the mutual camaraderie between the drivers? They pop up everywhere, in comedy series and reality shows to feature films and whatnot. We see in the beautiful Bulgarian drama ‘Directions’ how you can portray that taxi world in a fascinating way. In which we meet drivers, passengers and a society that seems hopelessly lost.

‘Directions’ largely takes place in one night, although we start with a taxi driver who, in a fit of justified anger, goes completely out of control during the day. This event runs like a red thread through this film, because the radio is always on in the taxis and on the radio they talk about nothing but the crazy taxi driver.

‘Directions’ consists of individual episodes about the drivers and their customers, with most drivers appearing several times. For such a concept to succeed, a creative and intelligent scenario is a must. Fortunately ‘Directions’ has such a strong script. We get an alternation of shorter scenes (about a taxi driver who is charmed by a female customer, about an elderly taxi driver whose son has recently died, about a heart surgeon who, like many compatriots, leaves his poor country) and longer scenes (about a suicide bomber on a bridge, about a taxi driver who finds her old tormentor in a customer).

The drivers are just as diverse as their customers, but have in common that they would rather not be taxi drivers. Sometimes they do it for lack of better, sometimes because a single job is not enough. What the conversations between customers and drivers mainly show is a society of a few winners and a lot of losers. Where the winners pay no attention to the needs of the losers, and the losers have to pull out all the stops to survive.

Strong dialogues, strong characters, atmospheric images of shabby Sofia, a few surprises in the script, tasty Bulgarian rock, a little bit of humor and a lot of food for thought, make this little Bulgarian film a real pleasure to watch. Not an original concept, but a strong execution.