“So, Penny-like-the-coin, you got a dance partner?”

Justin’s rating: The nightmare scenario that every Uber driver fears

Justin’s review: A taxi driver cruises down a lonely road at night to pick up a fare in the middle of seeming nowhere. On the way to her final destination, he finds that a romantic spark is heating up between the front and back seat. But then a storm on the horizon grows, the power in the car flickers, and she’s completely gone.

Baffled, he resets his meter — and finds that’s not all that’s reset. He’s back on the same road, listening to the same radio channels, and picking up the same girl once more… all without recognizing that he’s just looped back in time. But his amnesia starts to show signs of breaking down as he calls her by name without her telling it to him. For her part, she seems desperate for him to recall the past.

A very simple setting (the interior of a taxi cab) and focus on this budding relationship between Harris (Gino Anthony Pesi) and Penny (Brinna Kelly) is minimalistic, but that allows the film to drill down on the core mystery without any distractions. Who are these two people, really, and why are they stuck in a time loop? Why can’t Harris initially remember the past loops and Penny can? Who is this odd dispatcher and unnerving radio stations that intrude from time to time?

And here’s a tantalizing question that skirts right up to the line of spoilers: Is this a time loop at all?

I appreciate the simplicity of The Fare’s setup and the way it cleverly subverts audience expectations — especially audiences savvy to time loop tales. But it’s the sweet chemistry between Pesi and Kelly that really kept me watching. They’re strangers, friends, lovers, and maybe something more feeling out an impossible situation with a sense of humor and a tinge of melancholy. A good chunk of this flick is just listening to the two of them banter back and forth about Jack Kirby, time traveling aliens, and MacGuyver. And when Penny keeps disappearing, Harris truly sells the sensation of feeling lost and abandoned.

Yeah, I really liked this gloomy, moody, and atmospheric flick. It didn’t end up where I thought it’d go, but that’s a good thing. It’s maybe less of a scifi flick than a supernatural romance thriller mystery noir, straddling the same line that we saw in those classic Twilight Zone episodes. I think you should see this.

Intermission!

• 12 green lights in a row sounds phenomenal
• This is some next-level DC/Marvel nerd talk
• When the movie jumps from black-and-white to color: “You remembered me! You remembered me this time!”
• The creepy radio station
• “You never remembered. I never forget.”
• “Every road is blocked, we get forced back.”
• “So… before you disappear… or not.”
• Have MacGuyver on a desert island with you
• “So you see, you don’t have to be in a time loop to be trapped.”
• “Turn back! TURN BACK!”
• Shout-out to this soundtrack, which can really turn on the charm at times
• Penny’s scar
• “Don’t ask those questions. Don’t pull on that thread.”
• Don’t drink the water.
• “That’s really sad.” “Love stories usually are.”
• Naked guy
• Brinna Kelly not only starred in this movie — she wrote it, too