Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: THE TRAVEL COMPANION [Tribeca Film Festival 2025 - New York, NY]
The issue sometimes with in-meta stories, especially in the film industry is they can skirt too close to the truth. Such is the way with "The Travel Companion" [US Narrative Competition] which resonates in a certain mumblecore context. It wants to laugh at the absurdity of the independent filmmaker life in seeing larger ideas but always being saddled with the simple aspect of surviving. The perspective of this has obviously changed since the times this reviewer went to NYU in the mid 1990s. It was a different time and the film festival circuit was quite different;. Like independent filmmakers, the path of what it means has made a distinct change along with the technology and saturation. Simon (Tristan Turner) is trying to find his voice but sees only one path in a way as his point of view. His best friend and roommate Bruce (Anthony Oberbeck) works for an airline and can give his companion ticket appropriation to someone which happens to be Tristan at this moment. This of course changes when a girl comes into the picture: a filmmaker herself Beatrice (Naomi Osa) whom they happen to meet at a festival as well. Tristan spends most of the movie overplaying his hand and trying to prevent his standing from being taken away which is obviously going to be.
Instead of it feeling like dark comedy or slapstick, it simply comes out desperate in some ways. The uncomfortability of it is of course the point but the "spoiled child" syndrome comes into play when it possibly could have been done with a little more bumbling chicanery. His friend's life has changed. He needs to come to terms with it. The film does capture in many ways those in between times when one is finding what they are good at and what they are capable (and not capable of). The reality is that this time breaks some who don't have a back up. Directors Travis Wood and Alex Mallis understand the basis of these idiosyncrasies but also the egos involved. Turner has the range of being earnest but also desperate at the same time. It is just not as good a look as it could be. There are ways to soften the edge just a tad. That said, it does makes sense considering an eventual comeuppance which is what was really needed. As the programmer introducing the film said, "Sometimes the reality hits too close." "The Traveling Companion" definitely walks that kernel between those who remember that time, those who relish that time, those who had to move past it and those who embraced it. Of course everybody's journey is different. Simon just found himself in a certain rut. Whether or not he succeeded to get out of it is anyone's guess but the truth still lies...and sometimes echoes back if one looks. B
By Tim Wassberg