The Caller (2009)

Purely Joyful Movie!

Don't Believe the Hype

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

This is not worth the electricity it takes to play it in a DVD player. I've seen thousands of movies and this with out a doubt ranks down there way at the bottom. Please save your time and just take a nap or something; I've seen home movies better than this. Now, the actors were okay; the story line was horrible. It was so slow. The scenery was ordinary, the traffic was as good as I've seen. How can you mess up cars and buildings in the background? When this was made, time would have been much better spent cleaning out drawers or moping the kitchen. It's just about as interesting as watching grass grow. Do yourself a great big favor and think of something else to entertain yourself.

I have watched the film life of Frank Langella beginning with 'The Twelve Chairs' back in the 70s'. His Charismatic ability and dynamic screen force is impressive. This movie calumniates with all the cinematic experience he has accrued over his career. The film is entitled " The Caller." If you are expecting a lot of action, thrills or explosive drama, this is not one of them. Instead, what one sees is the story of an aged Executive who has seen enough corporate destruction to fill his conscience and like most humanitarians, wants to atone for his part. Langella plays Jimmy Stevens an ex-CEO of a multi-Billion dollar corporation which continues to destroy 3rd world countries without remorse. Planting the seeds of failure within the corporation, Stevens knows he will be marked for death. Realizing he has become a target, Jimmy hires private investigator Frank Turlotte (Elliott Gould) to be a witness during his last days. The movie becomes a death watch for a man who has learned in his youth, that death, even when slow in arriving, is death none-the-less and there is nothing to do but wait and reminisce. Touching in its inception, the film is a remarkable heartfelt legacy of humanity realizing its own destruction. This film will no doubt become a milestone for Langella which will culminate in becoming a Classic. ****

This film is not about corporate scandal, suspense or mystery; all those elements were simply the vehicle to get to the point: Death & how one deals with inevitable death. The story is extremely contrived and overly elaborate, which became dull and frustrating because every single character, item or action is just a device to metaphor.At the end, the plot really isn't important nor the characters because the film intentionally presents every one as a wooden puppet without the slightest emotion or expression (The golden rule of filming art: do not smile, remain expressionless, and add bleak).It ends as you expect it to: The same death metaphor and the same dreadful indictment against the capitalistic brutalities in every other film.

This film is very different from the one characterized in the posted review. So different that I wonder if the reviewer watched the film or was told about it. The protagonist,Jimmy, beautifully acted by Frank Langella, was not seeking suicide. A contract murderer was hired by his company to stop him from doing further damage to the them. He was convicted in conscience by guilt over what his company was doing, which was gaining control of Third World nations and sanctioning ruthless acts against the people. Jimmy's friend Lulu helped him survive as a Jew in WW2 France. In a carefully written and photographed sequence, Lulu bears witness to the death of a civilian murdered by Nazis, thereby giving meaning and history to that death. Jimmy discovers through a newspaper article that Lulu has grown up to be a witness, a detective who sees and carries the stories of what he has seen. Jimmy hires Turlotte/Lulu (played by Elliot Gould with amazing subtlety) to bear witness to his life and death, thereby making Jimmy's act sacrificial. Jimmy was murdered by contract killers hired by an executive from the corporation. The blood money was paid by the executive buying the paintings of the contractor, an artist. (I always wondered who paid, and why they invested, enormous sums to mediocre artists for their drivel) There are more errors both factual and intellectual in the posted review, but if you have read this far I urge you to see "The Caller" as it is time well spent.