With only a handful of films, director Carl-Jan Colpaert has established himself as an original--undisciplined and overly whimsical, perhaps, but possessed of playful irony, a fondness for quirky development, and a fine eye for how figures look best silhouetted against an unvaried patch of nature. Previously he made comical neo-noirs that spun the genre's conventions every which way but straight; here, working from a romantic and melodramatic screenplay written by others, he perhaps unfortunately sobers up. Barbara Hershey stars as Kate, a successful Manhattanite fed up with her cycle of abusive boyfriends, who one night hails a taxi and demands that the driver Darshan (Naveen Andrews) take her away. Out of that place, out of this town, out as far as the Arizona desert. After brief negotiations, he surprisingly agrees, and soon Kate is lying in the back seat with dark glasses on while behind the wheel Darshan squints against the broiling sun. Between the two there are of course antagonistic debates, glimmerings of mutual respect, self-righteous declarations that each couldn't possibly understand where the other is coming from, and a brief, angry coupling on the car hood. Hershey does what she always does, pitting her intelligence and sexuality against one another; Andrews has been cast as idealized fantasy object before and comfortably slouches through this not-too-demanding role. Colpaert delivers some nice visuals but seems uninspired to do much more. An interesting and slightly offbeat film, but still a disappointment from such a wildly offbeat director. --Bruce Reid