Signal 7
Picture: C-
Sound: C+ Extras: C Main Program: C
Originally released with Francis Ford Coppola backing it
up, Rob Nilsson’s Signal 7 (1986) is an interesting attempt to show a
raw slice of cab drivers’ lives that ironically has some of them aspiring to be
actors. The project wants to be in the
mode of John Cassavetes and The New York School of Filmmaking in general,
ironically succeeding far more than most 35mm and digitally shot post-Quentin Tarantino
attempts (by way of Martin Scorsese and even Spike Lee) attempts.
Part of it is timing, when these are the men who were
really still around and not a generation of would-bes or wanna-bes without the
life experience or theoretical weight of the men here. We will not even address the obvious pop
culture substitutes such imitators and posers land up substituting for being
real. These are some good actors (or
players as the director likes to say) really flushing out these men, including
their hopes and dreams at a time when hard work mattered to more people and The
American Dream was something more people believed in.
The program ruins over 90 minutes and has problems with
run-on, unless you can really get into it and enjoy it. This critic had too many problems with the
run-on, but I will add that it does make for quite a comparison to the hit TV
series Taxi (reviewed elsewhere on this site) in how far less polished
it is than that comedy show. Any laughs
here come from more pain and a darker place.
It is almost like an experiment and a work you have to see yourself to
see if you’ll like it or not. I like
its ambition; something most filmmakers could learn something from.
The letterboxed 1.85 X 1 image looks like it was shot on
VHS or Beta, than converted to film.
Turns out it was and then transferred to 16mm. In this, it is weak, detail-troubled, grainy, color-challenged
and has moiré patterns all over the place.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is better, though it shows its age. Extras include the trailer for this and
eight other Koch DVDs, featurette on the director and a commentary by him.
- Nicholas Sheffo
