Steve Swift
Dashcam is Christian Nilsson’s first feature. He’s already racked up the number 1 movie in the US though. There’s a tale to tell about that, of course. The film is the 30 minute long Unsubscribe, available from Vimeo and a nice modern social media based scare. As Christian told me recently, he and actor Eric Tabach hit upon an idea and reverse engineered it to produce a product.
That idea? It’s called four walling. During the pandemic, only a few films were in theaters, certainly no blockbusters. So, if you hired one for the day for a flat fee, paid to buy all the tickets then took the box office money, it would be going from one pocket to another. You wouldn’t lose out. But you’d have a sell out. So Christian and Eric dressed in their tuxedos and ran the movie, made $25,488 and waited for the figures.
And On 10th June 2020, it was the number 1 movie in the US. And that matters because this movie wouldn’t have been made if it wasn’t for that one. Someone asked Christian to make a full length version, but he couldn’t conceive of extending a movie just made to facilitate an idea. He had something better.
And Dashcam really is (something better). The plot is: likable video editor Jake, working on a news story and trying to work his passage to get in front of the news camera, is sent some dashcam footage. It’s a return fire shooting of a former attorney general and a cop. We see the incomplete news piece he’s working on, clearly the footage from the Police Officer’s dashcam is very much expected, needed for the story. When it pops into his inbox it comes with another email. One marked ‘confidential’. It was sent by mistake. It contains more information. And Jake must make a decision. To download or not to download. He downloads. Which leads to dizzying highs and vicious lows. Sounds simple. And it is. So that Christian Nilsson can concentrate on delivering a taut, claustrophobic, unfolding movie.
Dashcam isn’t a pandemic movie. Well, it is in one way; it takes place during one, and the action mostly takes place Jake’s apartment. Whether by budgetary or artistic design, it adds to the suspense and Nilson was keen to tell me that he tried never to replicate a shot twice. So this isn’t a pandemic film. Why? It features a character stuck in his own apartment, being advised by his girlfriend to go outside, and so many of us lived like that before covid caught hold. In front of multiple screens. These are new windows on the world, a new view of interaction and life outside. It’s telling that Jake’s window to the world outside is behind him and the curtains are drawn.
Jake’s social media interaction through screens creates a world where he isn’t forced to be with people. He controls each interaction. When his boss calls he leaves it a few seconds until he can hide his beer bottle, he vets trick or treaters at his door with the comment ‘no candy, sorry’ and he can decide whether he engages or not.
This has been described compared to De Palma’s 1981 film Blow Out and also to The Conversation, but this is actually more like an updated Rear Window. In Hitchcock’s movie, Jeff Jeffries is confined to his chair due to a broken leg and placed in front of his window, which looks out onto the windows of his neighbours. That’s his window on the world, here Jake’s are the multiple screens he uses. Both characters see something amiss and both are in danger of having their comfort and safety being disturbed.
According to Nilsson, Charlie Tahan was down to play the central role, but Ozark and covid protocols changed things and so he called on his co-producer and friend Eric Tabach to play the role. It’s a serendipitous move. Tabach gives us a likeable performance, a man with aspiration but a will to make it by putting the hours in; he’s a slight underdog with an edge and a credulous nature which allows him to be pulled into conspiracy theories.
Ah yes, conspiracy theories. Something is clearly going on here. The poster tagline is ‘We’ve been lied to’. But what is it? What is resolved here? Anything you want. This film resembles political thrillers of the ’70s like The Parallax View and The Internicine Project, we weren’t sure what would be discovered but getting there was great. Too much of a stretch to say those 1974 movies were made it a culture of cynicism towards political figures and that’s the same now? Maybe, but good to watch all the same.
Because Dashcam also works as a very fine thriller. The claustrophobia of the room, the social media interruptions, fear of being forced to go outside, all these draw us in and the machines, the process, become a character; some of the suspense is created by the slowness of the downloads. The unlucky ex-attorney general, Lieberman, is played by Larry Fessenden, who horror fans will know well for his many well-regarded movies. He has little do here but it’s tricky nonetheless. His emotion, fear, and excitement of secrets he holds is palpable.
Jake eventually does go out and it’s the undoing of him. But not in the way you might think. It’s filmed with an unhurried simplicity to allow the story to unfold and thoughts to hide in the shadows. It’s not overburdened by subplots and character roll calls. This movie concentrates on being stylish and scary. Dashcam footage; for people who cut you up…
