Centaur

Kirill Kemnits's 2023 Russian film turns a night-long taxi ride into a thriller. Liza works nights, and the time in the cab is the one quiet stretch of her day. Sasha, the driver, inspires confidence and knows what his passengers want. Among the lights of the city the ride takes turns nobody planned, and the threat, which seems to be coming from outside, emerges from somewhere much closer. The film uses its confined space, the inside of the car, as the main arena and watches how a two-person power relation keeps reversing. Yura Borisov gives a performance that holds warmth and menace at once. It is short and narrow in scope; the ambition is in tightening rather than expanding. Who it's for: viewers who want confined-space thrillers and contemporary Russian genre film. Who it's not for: anyone uncomfortable with suspense built on a threat to a woman.