The Passengers review (2025)

The Passengers is a fairly compelling documentary that in its own way, compares life in 1992 to the modern day. Struggles with connection, love, legacy, anger and long-buried issues play out over 77 minutes. While it starts off somewhat jarring and there’s a major impediment throughout, The Passengers is still an engrossing and compelling watch.

Director Thomas F. Mazziotti interviewed dozens of New Yorkers in 1992 to document what life was like in The Big Apple at the point of such a key moment in history. Arthur Ashe revealed he had AIDS, Johnny Carson wrapped his final episode of The Tonight Show, Mike Tyson is sentenced to 10 years in prison, Bill Clinton was elected president, and the nation was simmering over the Rodney King beating police officer verdict.

Mazziotti recorded the interviews and placed it in a time capsule, which was uncovered in 2022 and edited by Jerome Heaven. The finished product was The Passengers.

It’s fascinating hearing the interview subjects reflect on major moments in their lives. Some get emotional, others are detached and disillusioned with their lot in life. Still, there are other monologues that prove inspiringly timeless. Another aspect of The Passengers that really worked was the indirect mirror to issues that still exist today — tolerance, love, grace, compassion, distrust and hope.

There is certainly a 90s flavor with The Passengers thanks to the bigger hairstyles, slang, mindset and sets. Set designs have that dated drop cloth background and shadowy lighting of the interview subjects. It provides the film with a certain nostalgia tinge that works really well.

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One of the more engaging subjects is Marguerita Fahrer, whose mother was a Holocaust survivor. Her musings about how her mother enduring that horrific ordeal and came out on the other end determined to enjoy everything life had to offer lands even harder in 2025 as so many people live life through a smart device monitor. It’s this conversation that eventually leads to The Passengers getting its name. Even the explanation within the film is smart and thoughtful.

Fahrer also touches on the sense of loss now that her mother is no longer alive. How she wishes she could still hear her and hopes that she’s successfully carrying on her legacy as she passes down lessons to her two sons.

Less inspiring — at least at first — but equally compelling is Christopher Todd, a young man who expounds on his life navigating his light and dark sides. Initially in these discussions, he comes off slightly deranged. Mazziotti keeps this interview subject present throughout the various chapters. Todd is a charismatic presence so the slow burn on his story is justified. When The Passengers arrives at the payoff of Todd’s story, it definitely feels worth the time investment.

Easily the most frustrating aspect of The Passengers is the bizarre choices for the score. Some of the accompaniment is the standard soft, barely registered background musical track. In other instances, the score is a disruptive, annoying presence like a train whistle piercing an otherwise quiet night. At times the music sounds like someone clicking away at a keyboard. Then there are times when the score features an overly dramatic tone that seems more fitting to disingenuously sell a serious scene on a reality TV show.

Tonally, these moments don’t fit the conversation and at times drowns out the interview subject. Unintentionally, the score makes the interview subjects sound needlessly eccentric, quirky and weird. Some stories, like the wild one told by Christopher Dinerman benefit from the more playful score, but when Rodney Rowland breaks down how he had a horribly selfish approach to relationships it kills some of the impact.

Another misfire is the lack of a sense of New York’s melting pot population. There are few minorities in the film and different perspectives could have further aided in the storytelling.

The final two subjects are smart choices to wrap the film. Laura Yengo details a hilarious story of being set up with a cute guy with disastrous results while the likable Peter Cossack talks about what matters most in life.

Given the time lapsed nature of the documentary, it was disappointing that Mazziotti couldn’t provide an epilogue of the interview subjects 30 years later. These are regular New Yorkers, but The Passengers provided these everyday people a chance to share their lives, and it would have been a nice bow to explore how their lives progressed.

The Passengers is well worth getting a ticket to check it out provided the melodramatic score doesn’t prove too annoying.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Photo Credit: The Aware Company

Check out another of Thomas Mazziotti’s work, The Undertow, available now on Amazon Prime.

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