The Travel Companion: Tribeca Film Review

In The Travel Companion, Travis Wood and Alex Mallis show audiences the self-absorption laced in the journey to self-discovery. 

But when you’ve been bogged down by the difficulties of desperately trying to achieve your dreams as you are slowly passing societal accomplishment milestones with none hit yourself, the work begins feeling pointless. In Travis Wood and Alex Mallis’s debut feature film, The Travel Companion, the two filmmakers explore the circuitous path to self-actualization through a very jaded main character. 

The movie opens on Simon (Tristan Turner, of The Residence), a filmmaker in his early 30s who is experiencing a major creative block. He’s milked his thesis film dry, and every time he tries to explain the new project he is working on, he ends up mindlessly spewing out any buzzwords that come to mind. He sees his full-time job, creating ad spots for a taxi company, as completely soul-sucking and is constantly ruminating on all the ways life has been unfair to him.

The only thing that seems to bring any sense of joy into his life is his travel companion status. His roommate and long-time best friend Bruce (Anthony Oberbeck, of The Civil Dead) works for an airline and therefore gets to appoint a travel companion who gets free flights flying standby whenever they want for a whole year. Simon being Bruce’s travel companion has revived their friendship in a way it’s truly needed, bringing the two men closer into one another’s lives. 

However, Simon’s perk is put under threat when Bruce begins dating Beatrice (Naomi Asa), another aspiring filmmaker who is gaining some serious traction in the film scene. As the travel companion status only lasts a year and Simon’s year as Bruce’s travel companion is coming to a close, Bruce and Beatrice’s relationship threatens to take away the one thing going right in Simon’s life. 

The Travel Companion is an exploration of the ways in which our paths of self-discovery can be littered with setbacks, doubts and self-absorption. It’s clear from the jump of the movie that the travel companion status is the only thing in Simon’s life that is giving him a true sense of purpose. While he films on his trips and meagerly attempts to make sense of the story he wants to tell through his next project, Simon’s overwhelmed by the weight of the type of person he wants to become. 

The momentum from his past success has slowed to almost a halt and while he says there are bountiful opportunities in front of him, he’s not brave enough to throw himself into anything for fear of not living up to the potential he’s built up in his head. 

In many ways, his title of travel companion therefore extends its meaning beyond a literal sense. He’s not the pilot of his own life, but rather is traveling along on someone else’s (his past self’s) work with no conviction or set direction. His perpetual presence in the airport stands as a symbol of the in-betweenness of his life. He’s not at the very start of his travel, nor his destination, but waiting for himself to take off. 

But the true flaw with Simon comes from his inability to reconcile that his lack of direction and conviction is the sole reason for his lack of success and growth, and it has nothing to do with the circumstances that he tries to blame it on. He blames the stagnant nature of his career on everyone and everything but himself, which slowly isolates him from everyone in his life. 

He wants to be great, but refuses to put himself out there. He wants to capture truth, but won’t participate in the world around him for fear of finding out he isn’t the filmmaker he hopes he one day will be. He says he can’t advance creatively because of money or time or opportunity but in truth he doesn’t know how to evolve after being stuck for so long. 

While Wood and Mallis aren’t afraid of centering their film around an unlikable main character, Simon’s spiraling obsession with retaining the free flights and inability to escape his self-proclaimed victimhood quickly becomes trying on the audience’s sympathy. Bruce and Beatrice are nothing but supportive of Simon and yet at every turn, Simon commandeers conversations and situations to explain why his life and his problems are the most taxing, while not realizing they are utterly unoriginal. 

The Travel Companion creates a realistic glimpse into an in-between moment in its main character’s life; however, this moment is not a particularly pleasant one for audiences to be in for a prolonged period of time. Throughout the film, we’re really only seeing the worst and most selfish parts of Simon that make his redemption arc feel too little, too late. 

The film does raise interesting questions about the ways we circumvent our problems through whatever means necessary and highlights the bravery it takes to put yourself out there, but lacks a payoff that makes the pains of this particular journey seem worthwhile.

The Travel Companion was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 5, 2025 and will be screened again on June 6-15.