New
York subways are a great leveler. On any given car, a titan of industry could
be seated next to a homeless person. However, the social-economic order is
clearly demarcated in cabs: the worker bee up front and the conspicuous
consumer in back. Frankly, the really wealthy would probably have their own drivers
or at least a regular car service, but why let class warfare ruin a perfectly decent
opening? In any event, social divisions will emerge in sharp relief during
three hired rides in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Jakarta during Doris Yeung’s Taxi Stories (trailer here), which screens
during the 2017 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.
In
Jakarta, young Adi drives a bajaj when his uncle is too drunk to do his shifts,
which is often. Technically, the covered three-wheel scooter is not a proper
taxi, but whatever. Since the death of his mother, a maid working in Hong Kong,
the lad has carried a great deal of anger in his heart. He has a weird
half-mothering, half-flirtatious relationship with a local prostitute, but he
rather forgets her when a Naomi Watts-looking Australian tourist turns his
head.
Meanwhile,
Dewi is an Indonesian maid working for a wealthy couple in Hong Kong. Monica
and her husband Kenneth have difficult retaining servants, for reasons we can
probably guess. However, after the mega-pregnant Monica leaves her wallet in a
taxi (which only serves as a catalyst for this narrative arc), Dewi comes to
her rescue just in the nick of time. The two women subsequently start to bond,
much to the displeasure of Kenneth and his domineering mother Joyce.
Over
in Beijing (where it is night, even though there is no time difference with
HK), Zhang a cab-driver on the down-low, has picked up Nick, the entitled gay
son of a nouveau riche tycoon. When the hard-partying Nick rebuffs Zhang’s
advances, the ride quickly turns tensely ugly.
Of
the three city-stories, the best by far is Hong Kong, the least “taxi” of them
all. Partly, this is because the stakes are arguably highest for Devi.
Up-and-coming model and DJ Corallin (Cora) Cao is terrific as the emotionally
complicated Monica, while Shanty [Paredes] is pretty darned devastating as
Dewi. The rapport they develop together is difficult to pin down, but awfully
potent.
In
contrast, Beijing is the slightest storyline that depends on some impulsive
decisions that are hard to fathom. This puts Jakarta somewhere in between.
Although Adi’s story has a legitimate payoff, there is some creepy sexual content
that mars the entire film.