A lady places in an earpiece. It buzzes and she or he accepts the decision. She talks to the caller, generally for some time, generally for only a brief minute. The decision ends, and she or he repeats the method over and over. That is actually all that occurs over the course of The Listener, however director Steve Buscemi and lead actor Tessa Thompson handle to wring one thing tense and thrilling from the straightforward motion of speaking and listening.
Thompson performs Beth, a volunteer at a night-time disaster helpline. On her very first name, we study that that is her ultimate month with the road, as these nights can get particularly draining. The Listener wastes no time in displaying how emotionally demanding Beth’s work is because the night time goes on, immersing us in her world till we get a greater understanding of why she does what she does.
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The Listener is an intense character examine of a helpline volunteer.
Tessa Thompson in “The Listener.”
Credit score: Hantz Movement Photos
Beth accepts a number of calls all through The Listener, from a previously incarcerated man speaking about life outdoors jail to a younger unhoused girl worrying about her abusive boyfriend. Some callers dance round their largest worries, others are blatantly trustworthy. “I am mentally in poor health, let’s get that out of the best way,” one caller opens.
We by no means see any of the callers’ faces, we simply hear their voices. (Voices embody Rebecca Corridor, Margaret Cho, and Alia Shawkat.) Meaning all the movie is spent locked on Thompson as Beth. Thompson’s efficiency is an enthralling instance of pressure between vocal and bodily appearing. She pitches her voice up ever so barely, placing as a lot heat and friendliness as she will into her phrases. However her physique betrays her true emotions — generally concern glints throughout her face, whilst she assures the caller she is not apprehensive. In a single vignette, a caller admits that he deepfaked revenge porn of a lady he know, and all Beth can do is squeeze a stress ball in response.
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Because the night time wears on, we see Beth’s facade start to slide and crack ever so barely. Her voice will deepen at her most involved moments. We study her actual identify is not Beth. Later, we’ll study why she volunteers for the helpline within the first place. Thompson stays charming all through all these separate calls and all these minor modifications, even when The Listener could overstay its welcome.
The Listener is mesmerizing, however exhausting.
Buscemi lures us right into a rhythm with The Listener, hitting us with name after name till we really feel as drained as Beth have to be by the tip of her shift. The movie roots us firmly in Beth’s world all the time, though sound at all times bleeds by from the calls to riveting impact. We will not see what the callers seem like, however we are able to think about the place they’re based mostly on what we hear by the earpiece.
Some calls break up the rhythm. The creep who made revenge porn brings The Listener into nightmare territory as he antagonizes Beth and makes her wildly uncomfortable. Later, a former professor debates the morality of dying by suicide, putting Beth in fairly actually a life or demise state of affairs.
The Listener fumbles a bit within the latter name. Right here, it begins to work towards a grand conclusion, nevertheless it feels too moralistic and pat for a movie that has up till now felt way more pure. Maybe it is as a result of we have already sat by so many calls by this level within the film, or maybe it is as a result of the caller begins to focus extra immediately on Beth once we’ve already been capable of infer a lot about her by her actions, however this name is the place The Listener begins to pull. It is not sufficient for The Listener to lose you fully, although. Thompson stays participating, and Buscemi switches up the placement of this name to maintain us considerably on our toes.
The Listener could tire you out with its deluge of callers and their traumas, however Thompson roots us in actuality all through. Buscemi’s route can be efficient, as he situates completely different calls in numerous areas of Beth’s home so as to break up the night time. Can the film’s intimate scope generally work towards it? Sure. However does it stay a shifting, fascinating piece of remoted filmmaking? Most undoubtedly.
The Listener was reviewed out of its North American premiere on the 2023 Tribeca Movie Pageant.