Watching: The Passengers

Overview

The new Saint Denis-Bobigny streetcar picks up and drops off commuters in an all-too-brief transit of their lives. Among the regular riders is a woman who is both spectator and guide – she introduces, comments on, ponders and catalyzes the sometimes vain, sometimes serious preoccupations of her fellow travelers, who, for the moment, are rushing headlong toward their destiny. The commuters and their observer have double lives. Once they step off this streetcar, the real-life dramas begin. Each has his or her style of living or dying…