A dark, midnight thriller, Nowhere Fast opens with a murder and follows Nyah (Sahara Ale) and Sonny (Mason Jendel) as they become entangled in a race against time and daylight to survive and outrun a maniacal police officer, Sarge (Evan Suttle), and his posse to escape the lives that trap them.
A recovering drug addict still using drugs, Nyah, a petite woman, escapes her abuser, Andy (Paul Kolker), a police officer, by shooting him. After calling her caseworker, Rita Serrano (Rey Robinson), she is sent Sonny, a cleaner, to help her. Unfortunately, Andy’s clan of drug-addicted police officers take matters into their own hands. Led by Sarge, they are not just breaking the law—they have a particular vendetta against Nyah.
The dark and seedy world of Nowhere Fast unfolds as the cops follow Nyah and Sonny through the night in a neon-and-gray industrial town where the beach and bridges seem to crush any idea of freedom as the two try to escape their fate of being killed. Rita, a very cool woman and a type of mom figure to Sonny and a caseworker to Nyah, is played well by Rey Robinson and is the glue of the first half of the movie. She has a plan for Nyah and Sonny, but Sarge unravels it, and his sinister ways prevail. Rita falls to the cop crusade against Nyah and Sonny, leaving the two to fend for themselves as they try to reach a boat at Pier III to save their lives.
Sonny (Mason Jendel) and Nyah (Sahara Ale) share a quiet moment on a beach at night in Nowhere Fast.
“Unfortunately, Andy’s clan of drug-addicted police officers take matters into their own hands.”
As Nyah and Sonny make a desperate attempt to outrun the cops and avoid being killed, a camaraderie buds between them, and perhaps a new life awaits, allowing them to leave behind the blood, guts, and drugs that plague them. A low-budget, nighttime thriller, intriguing and unusual, Nowhere Fast is set in the 1990s, with landlines and old cell phones, and an underlying ’90s theme about loyalty among corrupt policemen and the underworld’s survival.
Although the story moves forward and reaches its peak with a built-in time clock, the actors lose some of their energy along the way, and the film begins to feel drawn out and overly long. Characters have purpose but don’t quite connect, as their backstories and personalities are not well defined, leaving you wondering about their commitment to each other. Yet, the execution of filming at night is well done and holds up Nowhere Fast until the end.
Nowhere Fast is an interesting story about escaping a trapped life of survival, where fear has no place, and one’s future is the moment one is in. The running, violence, and shootouts lead to a very interesting ending, where chaos takes a break as the day’s first light appears, for a new day and perhaps a new existence.
"…an interesting story about escaping a trapped life of survival, where fear has no place"
