Chicago Cab

I have seen my share of independents. I love the standards like Clerks and of course Raising Arizona. I've also seen some of the fringes of independent films, though I am by no means an expert. However, I can say that this one ranks in the upper tiers of independent film stratification. It was highly enjoyable and often comedic while at the same time thought-provoking and meaningful on a real life level. Another enjoyable aspect of the movie is spotting the famous faces who turn up, like Laurie Metcalf, Michael Ironside, John Cusak, Gillian Anderson, and most impressively Julianne Moore. It is Moore's part that sparks the greatest conversation in the film examining the limits of human ability. I recommend this one to anyone in the mood for something a little off the beaten path but not so far you can't find your way back.

I have to admit, the first thing that drew me to the film was John Cusack's cameo, as I am and always will be a huge fan of his (read: fanatic). I never thought I would actually fall in love with the film, but that's just what I did!

As an aspiring indie filmmaker, this film really gets to me in many ways: more obviously, the acting is superb, in all cases. that Paul Dillon really is awesome (as are his eyes, they're killer!), as were all the cameos. I honestly could not find one bad actor among them (the shortness of some screen times may account for that, but let's not get negative here ;)). The story was very interesting and original, and although I've heard of people criticising the film's lack of interesting plot, I really tend to disagree. I've always enjoy "a day in the life of" type movies, especially those that give a perspective on real people, and give you the opportunity to get to know the characters, identify with them very well, unlike most "action-packed" cheesy Hollywood movies filled with little perfect phonies. Instead, to me, this movie had many small plots, and however small they were, they gave you enough to, if you use your imagination god forbid, to really know some characters, and connect with some. The number of real emotions I experienced while watching this movie -- and continue to, no matter how many times I see it -- is staggering. To me this film represents independent filmmaking of the people genre at its best: real and honest, for better or for worst. I also really admire the direction, production, camera work, music, etc. The genius of these elements together gave you a real feel for the topic, the city, the driver, and the drivees. The ending was also superb, for although the movie often showed how much life can suck, the ending gave me some hope for the future of humanity (of which I have very little), or, at least for certain individuals who can think clearly. ;) It really touched me and I identified greatly with it, and it gave a real sense of closure to the film, although I was whining for more when the credits started a-rollin'. :)

I now own this film (yay me!), as I purchased it literally the moment after the video store in which I work released a previously viewed copy for sale, and have watched it in full half a dozen times (and counting) and in parts a countness number. I have also shown it to (read: forced to watch) some friends and family, and although the numbers are pretty equal as to who likes it and who doesn't, the ones who dig it really dig it, and to me that's more than worth it! I want to show it to the world, wooo!

I saw "Chicago Cab" by accident, while flipping through channels. Soon I noticed I was stuck watching this seemingly plotless movie about a guy, who has driven a taxi in Chicago for about 4 months.

A plotless movie might sound boring, even waste of time, but with great writing, good actors and good director "Chicago Cab" dwells up to be nicely cut slice from a population of big city, in example, religious family, married couple pregnant with their first born, etc.

Acting is overall very good, but Paul Dillon makes outstanding job in the role of Cab Driver. Without his subtle performance this whole movie could fall in pieces.

"Chicago Cab" balances between drama and comedy. Some things in this movie are so surprising and well thought of, that they made me laughing out loud. Some things made me sad, or feel compassion towards the Taxi Driver or his customers.

This is a movie, which can be recommend for people, who want to see little different kind of drama/comedy or are just fed up with all regular actors of this specific genre.

8/10.

I saw this movie around Christmas 2002, it was about 02.00 am, I thought I'd make one more walk around the channels. Then I saw a guy in a cab on BBC, and the colors of the movie seemed okay -You know, when a movie is really dumb, or bad, it often has intense and bright colors-. I wasn't doing anything at the moment, so I left it on. Then I became more and more interested in it, and decided to turn of the computer and focus only on the movie. I think this is a movie that truly represents the spirit of Christmas, although I am still not sure what the hell that may be, I'm sure this is it. Paul Dillon, whom I did not know beforehand plays his character brilliantly. He's a quiet guy, who somehow got into the job of cabdriver. He has to work on Christmas-eve and he gets all these strange people in his cab who tell him about what happened to them lately, and that's it! Fantastic. From there you see him trying to say the right things, and that maybe is the most beautiful thing about this movie. The movie is really easy going, you can just sit, do nothing, just watch and let it pass by. Therefore, when watched alone, late at night, at Christmas-time, this is the perfect movie for the moment, and deserves 10 out of 10 points.

In Chicago we spend the day with the driving of a taxi who starts work at 6am, picking up a religious family and taking them to church. Throughout the day he has to deal with many different types of fare, from abusive boyfriends, drunken sports fans, adulterous colleagues and a woman who has been raped. He increasingly gets more and more impatient and distraught with what he sees in Chicago's life and he starts to get very tired as his shift reaches way past midnight on a freezing cold Christmas in Chicago.

This film had potential – lots of characters, lots of stories, lots of real people all come and go past our main character as he drives his cab, however it is all the more annoying for the fact that it is just a badly fragmented film where little bits sort of work, some bits could have worked and other bits are just clichéd and lazily written. Too many of the characters' stories just stop and their point is lost. This is a waste because there is such a wide variety of recognisable characters here that it is a shame that nothing of any interest is done with them. Some of the stories do work and have a minor impact but they are just lost in a film that lacks structure and seems content to be a patchwork of stories and nothing else. Of course, many better films have shown us that a variety of stories with a loose connection can work as a film, but this film fails to have a real central point that we can latch onto.

This point should have been the cabbie, but the film does a bad job with his character and I was never emotionally drawn into his life or his thoughts. Some of the individual stories are quite interesting but they are so truncated that they make no real impact. The cast try hard and I was impressed (surprised?) by just how many well known faces had signed up for the film. Dillon is OK but can't do much with the character – it feels like he is being given direction without understanding what his character feels. The rest of the cast are basically cameos and most of them aren't very good simply because they aren't given much to work with. Ironside, Metcalf, Reilly, Anderson, Cusack, Lennix, Moore and Hayes all show up but few of them can raise the material.

Overall this was an interesting film that had potential but fails to really deliver. It is a good idea and one that requires very good delivery to hold all these stories together and deliver an emotionally satisfying film at the end – however the film fails to do that and it is annoying for that reason. It is a failure but it is not totally without merit, but having said that, I could see no reason for me to ever want to see this again.