Car Adventure Review

One bad day can determine the rest of your life. That's the guiding belief in the latest Anhedenia Films production I'm reviewing today, simply called 'Car Adventure' revolving around the two principal characters: Grandfather Evan and Grandson Sean, as they figure out together how to respond to a brutal assault on Sean at a gas station from three hooligans that simply disliked the choice of his soda flavor, and decided to prey on him for that decision. Car Adventure is definitely a movie about family and intrapersonal dialogue, most of the film depicts Evan speaking to his autistic grandson about the assault and how best to respond to it, alongside Sean describing how the attack has badly affected his ability to live normally. So how exactly does Car Adventure differentiate from the typical Anhedenia productions, and is it worth your time? Let's get into it.

Firstly, there's not much action in the movie to speak of. If that's what you're seeking from Anhedenia Films, go check out the Death Toilet franchise or Maximum Strollerdrive. The inciting event is merely the catalyst for the meat of its plot, involving Evan and Sean's various discussions taking place over the course of its forty six minute runtime. It's clear from these dialogues and scenes of Evan alone mentally deciding how best to respond to this unprovoked attack that he intends a violent, vigilante-esque solution to this problem. Evan doesn't have any plans of letting these guys go, and quite possibly intends to gun them down. Whilst these thugs are clearly in the wrong, even Sean recognizes by the movie's end that such a path could only lead to more misery and bloodshed, plus lifetime incarceration for his grandfather. Here's where I'm getting into a bit of theorizing, so bear with me dear readers: I believe throughout the movie, Sean really enjoys going on this little adventure with his grandpa. Whether it's within a car or walking around the local mall or merely talking inside their humble Carolinian home, Sean realizes what's important isn't the pursuit of some short-term vengeance against people that won't even matter in a year's time for his life, but rather healing through spending time with the person he trusts the most. His time with his grandfather is marked by an increasing desire to leave the situation to the proper authorities or outright forgetting about it. However, Evan can't reconcile that. His hatred begins overcoming his common sense and his drive for bloodshed begins taking precedent over his grandson's wishes, believing these three hooligans as unworthy to even live. This creates a really suspenseful ending to the movie, where Evan and Sean are sat within the car and finally sight the gang, and it's left ambiguous as to whether Evan exits the car and presumably kills them or takes Sean's advice and leaves the area with him.

Car Adventure is, at its core, a movie about the love of strong family bonds and the foolishness of pursuing disproportionate vengeance. While I definitely agree that justice needed to be enforced on those three goons, Evan's solutions would only cause more chaos and probably result in him being permanently separated from his grandson, thereby depriving him of the ability to have more 'car adventures'. The car adventures really were the best part, as Evan communicated with his grandson patiently and kindly as they drove through the small-town and planned their retribution, and Sean expressing his desire to have more of these bouts with his grandfather, to which Evan replies that they'll have 'many, many more'. Of course, it's up to us to decide if they do or not. Personally, I'd like to believe Evan understands the futility of pursuing this narrow path and reneges from doing anything too drastic, and leaves for home with Evan, or maybe seeks a more subtle and clever way of getting revenge on those guys.

Ultimately though, Car Adventure is another example of how a movie can be made with limited resources. There's only two actors and the entirety of their scenes involve purely dialogue without any real action, but these forty-six minutes introduce us deeply to their characters, their personalities, hopes, dreams, fears, anxieties, and beyond, and the audience is drawn into the conflict and sympathizes with Sean both for the unprecedented attack that occurred on him over a Fanta of all things, and his desire to reel back Evan from the path of rage and spite. I'd definitely say to give it a try, as its a welcome change of pace within the typically silly pantheon of Director Jacobs' films I've reviewed thus far. Props to Evan Jacobs and Shawn Miller for their work here, and I really hope to see this talented young man in future Anhedenia movie productions! God Bless everyone, and stay tuned for more Blog posts!