A woman’s final taxi ride becomes a surreal journey through purgatory, forcing her to confront her darkest truths before reaching her ultimate destination.

Set within the dim glow of a New York City taxicab, The Cab takes viewers on a surreal and introspective journey through the mind of a woman struggling with depression. After taking her own life, Eva finds herself in an eerie in-between space—one that is neither here nor there, but rather a purgatory disguised as an ordinary cab ride. With the enigmatic Cabbie as her guide, she must confront the deepest, most painful corners of her soul, unraveling the complexities of her past to determine her ultimate fate.

Directed by Nicole Melillo, The Cab blends drama and fantasy to create an emotionally charged narrative that explores themes of mental health, redemption, and self-discovery. Through its haunting yet tender storytelling, the film invites audiences to reflect on the silent battles many face and the possibility of finding peace even in the darkest moments. With its striking visuals and an evocative performance from its lead, The Cab lingers in the mind long after the journey ends.

The film takes place in a fantastical NYC taxicab. What inspired this unique setting, and how does it shape the protagonist’s journey?

I love Mythology. One of my favorites is the Greek Myth of Charon and the river Styx – the ferryman who transports souls into the afterlife. I knew I wanted to use it as the basis for a story, and when I was coming up with the idea thought to myself: hey, as a New Yorker, my version of “the ferry” could be a classic yellow NYC taxicab (and listen, if you’ve ever been in the back of one of these cabs, you know it can certainly feel like purgatory).

In the original myth, those who died a peaceful death were buried with a coin to pay the ferryman for safe passage into the afterlife. Those who died in a violent or unsettling way, like suicide, didn’t receive a coin and were sent to wander as a lost soul until they could pay off their debt. I wanted to give the passengers a final chance to earn safe passage. So, I crafted a character similar to my loved ones: someone who hides their pain to protect themselves and their loved ones from their darkness, and gave them an opportunity to face the darkest parts of themself.

Suicide is a deeply sensitive topic. How did you approach telling this story with both emotional weight and respect?

From the first line of the script, I worked with a psychiatrist to ensure I properly captured an authentic experience without glamorizing suicidal ideation. Suicide and depression are major characters in my book of life, and while I personally have been able to evade their grasp, they unfortunately have a hold on some of my loved ones with various degrees of success. I feel that because of this, I can widen out and understand people with this condition in a way that gives me an ability to talk about it without it being painful for me or the people I’m sharing this story with.

The film balances elements of fantasy and drama—how did you navigate these tones to create a cohesive story?

Immersive films are powerful tools for shining a light on underrepresented experiences, and subversive films are able to reach audiences that may otherwise be resistant to these types of stories. By utilizing both fantasy and drama elements, The Cab puts the viewer in the perspective of an individual suffering from debilitating mental illness. Instead of being told what it’s like, the viewer can feel the isolation, suffering, and internal battles of depression without it overwhelming them.

Can you share more about the techniques used in the film and how they helped bring the world of The Cab to life?

My mission is to create equally entertaining and informative stories. One of the reasons I made The Cab was to show that large scale production can be utilized to tell a story with a socially conscious message. We accomplished this through a winning combo of Virtual Production, Unreal Engine, classic film techniques, VFX, and above all, an awesome team of talented and tenacious people. The collaboration of all these factors allowed us to make a film with high production value at indie short film scale without having to sacrifice creativity. I could talk about this fascinating process for hours. To anyone interested in learning more, I gave an in-depth interview with Selig Film News while at Bentonville Film Festival where I go into detail on our production process.

What was the biggest technical or creative challenge in making this film, and how did you overcome it?

We were in prep most of 2021 and wrapped our shoot early 2022, so we were literally pioneering new technology while deep in pandemic protocols. Virtual Production was so new that by the time we were in Post, new developments had been invented that would have saved us so much time on our shoot. I literally wore a “Fix It in Pre” shirt for most of prep because we had to do months of tests, development, and troubleshooting before we could film anything. However, this “everyone figuring it out” experience brought together some incredibly talented people that I would not have had access to otherwise and is a big part of why the film looks as good as it does. It also produced a creative comradery where everyone wanted to push the tech as far as it could go, which ended up pushing each other past what we thought the limits of our creativity were. Truly an adversity breeds innovation situation.

My favorite representation of this is the shot in the Void where Eva is approaching the mirror for the first time. That is an entirely practical, in camera shot. Nowadays, you can easily sync screens to move with the camera, but at the time we didn’t have that tech, so we had to export every camera angle we wanted from Unreal Engine before getting to set. This obviously doesn’t give a lot of wiggle room, ESPECIALLY when doing camera moves. We had our actress, Hana, walk up to the mirror while wrapped in screens that accounted for what we saw behind her and in the reflection of the mirror and followed her with the camera on complicated setup. Everyone was giving their all. When we finally got the shot, the pin-drop silence of focus broke with palpably excited chatter amongst the crew. We were patting each other on the backs like a football team who just scored a touchdown. It rocked. Moments like that are why we make movies.

The idea of determining one’s final resting place is a powerful concept. How did you develop this theme, and what do you hope audiences take away from it?

Having the film exist entirely in the afterlife allowed me to emphasize the severity and finality of suicide while also giving Eva an opportunity in death to confront the things she couldn’t in life. I wanted to challenge stigmas of damnation and weakness surrounding suicide by creating an environment where I could approach the topic with empathy and allow the character an opportunity at self-motivated redemption. As Cabbie says, “the weight of darkness is not a test of strength.” I want people to remember that.

The setting of a cab can be quite intimate—how did you work with the cinematography and performances to heighten this feeling?

We made the creative choice to stay entirely within the cab with Eva once she entered to emphasize the ride forcing her to sit with herself. Our brilliant Art Department hooked us up with a full and half cab that made it easier to shoot. The full cab was customizable before delivery, so we could fine tune things like making the partition removable and remote controlled to best accommodate our shot list. The half cab is well, exactly that – a taxicab split in half. This expanded our coverage options in an incredibly efficient way. We could get really close to the actors to create a claustrophobic feeling, without having to create a claustrophobic environment.

When it came to performance, I only did a few table reads with the actors before running the rest of their rehearsals sitting in the cab together. This gave them the opportunity to literally work through their characters “on set.” Then when we were shooting, I would leave a walkie in the cab and wore headphones that were hooked up to their mics so I could speak to them and give notes without them having to get out of the car. This really helped with flow and keeping the actors engaged.

The film has a dreamlike quality. Were there any specific films or works of art that influenced its visual and narrative style?

Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar were big influences for the film’s visual language. The final season of Bojack Horseman was a good reference of mental illness presented through fantastical storytelling. And genuinely not kidding when I say I did a rewatch of The Sopranos while I was writing the script to help keep me in the headspace of sincere, colloquial dialogue.

The story deals with themes of loss, regret, and acceptance. How did you approach portraying these emotions authentically?

I pulled upon my own experiences while also making sure to leave space for the audience experience. A lot of the most authentic moments are either a direct quote from one of my loved ones or something that I wish I could have said to a loved one when they were suffering. Ultimately, I made this film to validate the experiences of those with depression and those who love someone with depression, so I leaned on nuance and ambiguity to create space for the viewers to insert their own relationships and feelings onto the film, while still keeping it a guided journey. One could say, much like how Cabbie handles his passengers.

What kind of conversations do you hope The Cab sparks among viewers?

I want this film to open a conversation around grief and mental health by creating an experience that helps viewers transcend deeper within through fellow human existence. With depression and suicide rates rising exponentially, and treatment for many feeling intangible, we need to educate individuals about mental health issues and empower them to recognize signs and symptoms within themselves or their loved ones.

If this film can change the life of even one person by making them feel validated in their experience or inspire someone to talk about their experiences with depression or suicide and reach out for help if they need it, then this film is a success.

What are the books, podcasts or even YouTube Channel that you recommend young filmmakers to get their hands on?

Use YouTube to watch making of and behind the scenes videos of movies! In this world of streaming where we’ve lost many of the glorious bonus features physical media gave us, YouTube is an incredible place to find versions of this for both old and new films. I’ve truly learned so much about making movies just through watching others make movies. The Cab exists because I initially learned about Virtual Production from watching BTS for First Man and The Mandalorian on YouTube.

Also! Engage in interviews with your favorite filmmakers AND their department heads about their work. This can be in any format you prefer, but it’s amazing what you’ll learn about creative problem solving when you hear other creatives problem solving.

Can you share with us some of your favorite short films you’ve seen lately?

They’re not new, but everyone should watch the Scorsese Shorts! It’s so wonderful to see the beginnings of a maestro in stripped down short form. The collection covers a range of themes and topics, yet they all have echoes of the voice we undeniably know as Scorsese’s. I always find myself returning to Italianamerican when I need soul nourishment.