The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada) presents “The Last Taxi Driver”. Admit it you are already thinking of the classic Scorsese 1976 Film “Taxi Driver”. Thomas (Kostas Koronaios) is an Athenian taxi driver who replaces the violence of Travis Bickle with a quieter and creepier form of violence. He is a stalker. Is he obsessed or mentally ill or is there even a thin red line between the two?
Thomas is a former book editor, translator and even poet perhaps a more intellectual past than his present. He is in his fifties with his wife Maria and son Tassos living in an apparently happy home.
Thomas has the night shift. A passenger complains to Thomas he is still providing for his three children and they are bleeding him dry. Thomas agrees. The passenger argues with Thomas about the 13 Euro fare claiming he has been an accountant for many years and has calculated the correct fare. He pays Thomas 10 Euros and leaves the taxi promptly blowing his brains out. Thomas rifles his briefcase and finds neatly wrapped wads of Euros. He puts the blood-spattered spectacles of the passenger in his pocket. He drives off not reporting the suicide to the police.
Thomas tells no one and returning to the scene of the suicide at a memorial for his passenger meets Eleni (Klelia Andrilatou) with a mysterious connection to the deceased. Thomas gives Eleni a lift and there is some vigorous “sexual activity” in the taxi. Eleni treats the episode as simply a reaction to the death of Thomas’ passenger. Thomas interprets it as something more.
Thomas becomes somewhat strange, locking himself in a closet at home to write, drinking heavily and arguing with his wife Maria. Was it the suicide causing his transformation?
The film from this point on is replete with long winded philosophizing by Thomas about life and love. The monologues are a cross between astute observations and gibberish and Thomas surges into increasingly bizarre behaviour perhaps searching for the intellectual life he left behind. The mild-mannered taxi driver transforms into a quiet aggressive creep. The viewer is expecting something drastic will happen particularly in the bizarre ending where at Eleni’s apartment he, with the skill of the proverbial weasel, gets on the good side of Andreas, Eleni’s boyfriend and exposes the corruption of Eleni and Andreas and his own mental illness as he claims to be Eleni’s accountant wearing the glasses of the deceased accountant passenger.
The next logical step it would seem is to complete the identity by pulling a gun and blowing his brains out whilst Andreas and Eleni are in a wild sex escapade with Thomas watching through the keyhole. I wait for the pop of the gun pointed to Thomas’ head.
One of those classic intellectually challenging Euro films you might say but is the intellectualism of Thomas mere gibberish of a mentally ill stalker?
Klelia Andrilatou puts on a strong performance as the mysterious woman. Kostas Koronaios excels quietly and forcefully transforming into a man you’d rather not encounter.
You can watch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2Ktgs4D3bQ&t=6s. The film is in Greek with English subtitles.
Directed by Stergios Paschos his first feature film.
RKS 2024 Film Rating: 86/100.
For details as to showing of the film at The 4th Annual Greek International Film Festival Tour (Canada) running from 1-31October2024 go to https://gifft.ca
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