Shadows on the Wall | The Listener

The Listener

dir Steve Buscemi
scr Alessandro Camon
prd Wren Arthur, Steve Buscemi, Lauren Hantz, Oren Moverman, Sean King O'Grad, Bill Stertz, Tessa Thompson
with Tessa Thompson
voices Rebecca Hall, Alia Shawkat, Logan Marshall-Green, Margaret Cho, Derek Cecil, Blu del Barrio, Ricky Velez, Jamie Hector, Bobby Soto, Casey Wilson
release WP Sep.22 vff
22/US 1h36

TORONTO FILM FEST

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A sensitive lone performance from Tessa Thompson, this is an engaging look at the life of a helpline operator. It's directed by Steve Buscemi to be achingly picturesque, while Alessandro Camon's overwritten script makes everyone rather too articulate. Add cozy production design, and everything feels somewhat artificial. But even if big emotional beats in a series of phone calls are perhaps too tidy, there are continual points of resonance.

As night falls, Beth (Thompson) clips in her earpiece and is in conversation with a stressed ex-con who found lockdown relaxing. She then moves on to a man who just told his wife he doesn't love her, a homeless teen whose boyfriend wants to pimp her, a guy who's angry that girls don't like him, a self-proclaimed crazy woman who talks in poetic circles, a veteran haunted by memories of Iraq, and a cynical British woman waiting for the apocalypse. Eventually Beth opens up too, knowing she only has one month left on the job.

Quite a few other people phone in as well, each touching on a key social element from domestic violence to police brutality to poverty to extreme politics. Calls are funny, nasty and carefully written to provide gristle the starry voice cast. And Beth has just the right words in response, including psychological advice, answers about morality and mortality, and ultimately some personal revelations about why she's doing this job. For her it's like Alcoholics Anonymous, a way to share her private burden.

Thomson effortlessly conveys Beth's razor-sharp intelligence and witty sense of humour, as well as how deeply she cares about these callers even while carefully maintaining distance from them. She's also remarkably patient when they ramble on or launch into an intense rant. Although each line is so scripted that nothing is ever surprising or provocative. The vocal actors bring plenty of energy to each role, revealing personality quirks and big emotions that are either shouted loudly or hidden behind bravado.

Because each caller is addressing a pertinent theme, the film remains gripping all the way through. Buscemi keeps the camera moving gently, switching the angles to continually offer new backgrounds that vary the imagery without cutting away. What emerges is a series of self-contained vignettes with Beth offering an overarching narrative. She comments that with the problems in the world at the moment, the hotline is busier than ever. And that's another thing we can certainly identify with.

themes, language 9.Sep.22 vff

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