The Listener, 2024.
Directed by Steve Buscemi.
Starring Tessa Thompson, Logan Marshall-Green, Derek Cecil, Margaret Cho, Blu del Barrio, Ricky Velez, Alia Shawkat, Jamie Hector, Casey Wilson, Bobby Soto, Matt Van Orden, and Rebecca Hall.
SYNOPSIS:
Follows a helpline volunteer who is part of the small army that gets on the phone every night, fielding calls from all kinds of people feeling lonely, broken, etc.
The Listener is as straightforward as it sounds, which is fine. For roughly 90 minutes, Tessa Thompson’s Beth works the night shift from home on a helpline, answering calls and lending an ear to different types of strangers; some are lonely, some are in a perilous situation, some are struggling to sleep, and all of them are damaged in one way or another. She is patient and tentative as she reacts to conversation about whatever is distressing the individual, reserving judgment even if the caller admits to having gone to jail before or committing a cruel Internet revenge sexual crime, but also unafraid to hang up if they become disrespectful and gross (one isolated, rejected man creepily starts to insist that she let him masturbate to her voice.)
Director Steve Buscemi (ending a nearly 20-year hiatus away from the director’s chair for the lovable funnyman) is also smartly aware that, while convincing dialogue is key here (the screenplay is by Alessandro Camon), this is still a movie and thus requires cinematic visual language, opting to maximize the effect of Tessa Thompson’s draining facial expressions or her hand reaching for a stress ball when she isn’t necessarily comfortable and keen on continuing talking to someone but also not ready to throw in the towel and hang up. She also makes doodles of what these people might look like, connecting the viewer to her experience as moviegoers will likely be wondering the same thing, especially since the voiceover ensemble has some recognizable names that aren’t easy to instantly place (save for maybe the final caller.)
The script also strikes a tight balance between allowing the film to exist as another night on the job and providing an appropriate amount of personal information about Beth. It is concerned with why she is seemingly passionate about this job without letting those discoveries overshadow the tense, dramatic nature of the calls. It is entirely predictable why this job matters so much to her, but it is also completely logical, giving her character and commitment to the work a greater sense of purpose.
That’s one way of saying Tessa Thompson is absorbing as Beth, which is also not her real name. As a matter of fact, during one call, she also seems to realize that the only way to truly help someone who wants to be helped here and is in a dark place is to ditch playing pretend and open up with rawness. It’s also fortunate that this particular character on the other end is voiced by Rebecca Hall, a phenomenal talent capable of making lengthy monologues come from a place of legitimate pain and sincerity.
Meanwhile, some callers are disinterested in taking Beth’s advice or genuinely working on themselves, almost as if they expect calling her will solve everything. One call with a police officer caught between doing the right thing and snitching on his “gang” also speaks volumes of the pressures some people find themselves with that they can’t talk to anyone else about. Naturally, he hangs up when asked if there is only one solution: the right one.
Even though it would have been welcome to have a lighthearted caller or troll here and there (Beth does acknowledge that she receives prank calls from time to time), as this is a film and acting exercise that could be fun and rewarding to experiment with on the tone of these conversations, The Listener is a simplistic, direct, small-scale engaging work beautifully emphasizing the importance of human connection, especially for those who need it most (even the ones that might not gain anything from it.) Tessa Thompson superbly carries this fascinating pandemic-era project.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
