‘The Last Taxi Driver’: Thessaloniki Review

Dir/sr: Stergios Paschos. Greece. 2023. 114mins

Stergios Paschos’ follow up to his 2016 comedy drama debut Afterlove is a much darker prospect, with a broody intensity even if it does not always deliver on its threatening promise. Featuring a psychologically gripping central performance from Kostas Koronaios, Paschos’ film occasionally feels torn between arthouse leanings and more conventional erotic thriller ideas, although its theme of dangerous obsession is most likely to appeal to genre festivals going forward.

 A psychologically gripping central performance from Kostas Koronaios

Thomas (Koronaios) is a middle aged family man and taxi driver who is about to join the cinematic rank of fellow cabbies who turn to the dark side. The trigger is one unexpectedly pulled by a late-night pick-up (Konstantinos Avarikiotis), who has just refused to pay the full fare in the run up to Christmas. The gun is not aimed at Thomas, but the incident shoots a hole through the taxi driver’s life. Perhaps it is the passenger’s tale of family grind and dependent kids that resonates with Thomas; taxi driving was never his dream and his life with his wife Maria (Marisha Triantafyllidou) and his teenage son has fallen into a routine. Thomas also has reasons to keep the incident to himself, not least because of a nice wad of cash left behind, but still feels compelled to return to where it happened.

It is there he encounters the daughter of his gun-toting passenger, the young and gorgeous Eleni (Klelia Andriolatou, who has mostly worked in TV but brings plenty of star power to this role). The pair go for coffee that soon turns into more than a few drinks too many, with Paschos using the light outside the cafe to indicate just how much time has passed. Drinking is no bar to Thomas getting behind the wheel, and when emotions run high on the way home, a sexual encounter occurs that will lead to Thomas becoming increasingly fixated with the younger woman. As the film progresses, this obsession also extends to Eleni’s relationship with her boyfriend Andreas (Ektor Liatsos).

Koronaios lets Thomas’ attitude slip from normal to worrying almost impercetibly. Initially it’s comes across as an added bit of intensity to his interactions, a gaze held a little too long, a desire to argue more with Maria, but later he starts to lose his grip more dramatically. Cinematographer Giorgos Koutsaliaris uses the night-time neon and accompanying shadows to cast a coolly menacing blue tone over much of what happens in the taxi, standing in contrast to the much warmer Christmas lights that shine at home. The music from Alexandros Voulgaris – aka The Boy – is used with precision to add to the menace. The sound design, however, is much less subtle, with thunderstorms, in particular, arriving with almost comically good timing more than once. 

While the psychological trajectory of Thomas feels finely honed, Paschos is less successful when it comes to the relationship between Eleni and Andreas. Viewing them from Thomas’ skewed perspective may add to the potency but, because they are never afforded a scene completely alone, it is hard for the writer/director to fully establish the relationship in ways that would provide a firmer foundation for what happens in the film’s final act. This also means pivotal scenes become quite script-heavy when a little less conversation and a little more action seem more likely given the circumstances.