Drunk Bus (2020)
(On Cable TV, May 2022) On paper, there isn’t much to excite in Drunk Bus’ premise – this is hardly the first film in which we’re asked to commiserate with an aimless twentysomething suffering from a breakup, stuck in a dead-end job and having trouble making new friends. But a few elements make the execution of that premise far more interesting than expected. An unusual job – driving the campus loop bus during winter nights, as inebriated students try to go back home—provides a chilly but distinctive visual identity to the film. While Charlie Tahan is clearly the protagonist of the film, Pineapple Tangaroa is nothing short of remarkable in a supporting role, playing a tattooed pierced Samoan street poet hired as bodyguard to the diminutive protagonist. (The film’s production history also suggests that he’s playing himself in a semi-autobiographical film.) The plot isn’t quite as important as the ensemble of quirky supporting characters, wacky night-in-the-life-of events and a very specific sense of humour from directors John Carlucci and Brandon LaGanke. Drunk Bus is not an earth-shaking film, but it operates in a subgenre where greatness is unnecessary – merely being watchable, enjoyable and original is enough — a bar that it easily clears.