In the feature film ‘Last Passenger’ (showing this week on Rialto Channel) Lewis Shaler (a weary-looking Dougray Scott) is a doctor and solo dad heading home with his young son Max (Joshua Kaynama) on a late night train from London. In true cinematic fashion, Max accidentally causes fellow passenger Sarah Barwell (a pixie-ish Kara Tointon) to spill coffee on her coat, prompting Shaler to apologize to Barwell. The interaction is the beginning of a romantic connection between the two.

Later, while the train is stationary, Shaler notices an unidentifiable man tampering with the train's brakes. As the train begins to move again the plot thickens - he sees another man crawling across the tracks and on investigation, Shaler discovers the conductor has vanished…

In the feature film ‘Last Passenger’ (showing this week on Rialto Channel) Lewis Shaler (a weary-looking Dougray Scott) is a doctor and solo dad heading home with his young son Max (Joshua Kaynama) on a late night train from London. In true cinematic fashion, Max accidentally causes fellow passenger Sarah Barwell (a pixie-ish Kara Tointon) to spill coffee on her coat, prompting Shaler to apologize to Barwell. The interaction is the beginning of a romantic connection between the two.

Later, while the train is stationary, Shaler notices an unidentifiable man tampering with the train's brakes. As the train begins to move again the plot thickens - he sees another man crawling across the tracks and on investigation, Shaler discovers the conductor has vanished…

The drama ramps up faster than a runaway locomotive as Shaler notices the train bypassing his stop and tries to contact the driver via the intercom, but the driver only asks how many passengers are left on board. Shaler and a fellow passenger pull numerous emergency brake cords to no effect. It dawns on the troubled Shaler that the driver intends to kill himself and his passengers… and the chaos begins to unfold. Hooked yet? I was, and the relentless pace definitely keeps one’s attention, even if the ending (don’t worry, no spoilers here) is a little um… ambiguous. I love a good runaway train flick and this one is an absolute pearler!

The film’s British born director Omid Nooshin admits to being a long time fan of the cinema since way back, and cites the original ‘Star Wars’ as his inspiration to begin making short films at the age of 11. He began his career as a cinematic pro making short films and commercials, an during this time reportedly took every opportunity to get close to movie production, gatecrashing the sets of Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ and another instalment in his childhood favourite series, ‘Star Wars: The Phantom Menace’. In the late 1990s, he travelled to New York and spent much of his time at famed method acting institute The Actor’s Studio, where one assumes his confidence to take a fairly linear story and then drop it off a cliff and into the abyss began to take hold. In a 2013 interview Nooshin expressed his view that "the film industry is built on a cultural fault line where the tectonic plates of art and commerce meet. As a filmmaker you should anticipate and be prepared to tough out frequent tremors and the occasional earthquake”, and reactions to the ending of debut flick were most definitely in the seismic realm.

He was most definitely not alone when it comes to being a first time director who garnered both criticism and praise for his debut outing, when you really stop and think about it some of the best in the game entered with a bang that people either loved or loathed. From Orson Wells’ ‘Citizen Kane’ to Spike Jonze’s ‘Being John Malkovich’ and John Singleton’s ‘Boyz N The Hood’, first time directors have charmed and intrigued, and hey, when a movie gets people talking then surely that’s half the battle won? If his dark and suspenseful debut is anything to go by, I for one can’t wait to see what Nooshin gets up to next.