Silencio en la noche

"The Night Listener" is a creepy and unsettling movie, and it's pretty good as far as creepy and unsettling movies go.

It could have been much better, though. The true, raw material on which the film is based is really compelling: A famous author is contacted by an abused child dying of AIDS. As the relationship progresses, the author comes to wonder if the kid is real or a hoax.

The story is so fascinating that several television shows and print articles have been based on it.

The movie makes good, but not great, use of the story. The film has creepy, scary, hair raising moments, and moments that make you stop and think about trust, suspicion, and relationships.

But it never really breaks into the same territory as, say, "Vertigo," which treads some of the same ground.

Robin Williams doesn't really do much here. His relationship with his ex lover, Bobby Cannavale, is never believable. The two have zero chemistry, and never even move as two people who once shared the same house, never mind the same bed.

The relationship with the abused child is rushed. It's never given any poignancy. And, so, when Williams begins to suspect the relationship, there is less at stake.

Toni Collette, though, gives a terrific performance as a woman who may be a heroine, or who may be a very scary psycho. She's just so good.

The director manages to make Wisconsin in winter seem like a very ominous place. I never thought that fat, pale, working class Wisconsin residents could appear so menacing.

If the material appeals to you, give this film a try. It's not great, but it's not half bad.

"The Night Listener" tells the story of Gabriel No one a radio storyteller who finds himself living his most interesting yarn yet. He is given a book to review by his publisher and strikes up a telephone friendship with the troubled young author, Pete Logand. When questions come up about the sordid events of Pete's autobiographical work Gabriel sets out to discover the truth.

The film takes a steady, sober look at its characters which avoids the pitfalls of typical "suspense" films. The characters are believable and interesting, with Toni Collette delivering a particularly fine performance. For some reason though, the story simply didn't have much of an impact on me. If I had to hazard a guess why I would say that the relationship between Gabriel and Pete wasn't given enough time to breathe in this short 82 minute film. The early repartee between Robin Williams and Rory Culkin was some of the best material in the film. I think we needed a bit more of that to feel the sense of connection that Gabriel did and to understand the need that this relationship answered in his life. At one point he asks himself, "Why am I here?" Unfortunately, we cannot convincingly answer.

There are many illnesses born in the mind of man which have been given life in modern times. Constant vigilance or accrued information in the realm of Pyschosis, have kept psychologists, counselors and psychiatrists busy with enough work to last them decades. Occasionally, some of these mental phenomenon are discover by those with no knowledge of their remedy or even of their existence. That is the premise of the film entitled " The Night Listner." It tells the story of a popular radio host called Gabriel Noon (Robin Williams) who spends his evenings enthralling his audiences with vivid stories about Gay lifestyles. Perhaps its because his show is losing it's authentic veneer which causes Noon to admit he is no longer himself. Feeling abandoned by both his lover Jess (Bobby Cannavale) and his and best friend (Joe Morton), he seeks shelter in his deepening despair and isolation. It is here, a mysterious voice in the night asks him for help. Noon needs to feel useful and reaches out to the desperate voice which belongs to a 14 year old boy called Peter (Rory Culkin). In reading the boy's harrowing manuscript which depicts the early life and sexual abuse at the hands of his brutal parents, Noon is captivated and wants to help. However, things are not what they seem and Noon soon finds himself en-wrapped in an elusive and bizarre tale torn right out of a medical nightmare. This movie is pure Robin Williams and were it not for Toni Collette who plays Donna D. Logand, Sandra Oh as Anna and John Cullum as pop, this might be comical. Instead, this may prove to be one of William's more serious performances. ***

This Night Listener is better than people are generally saying. It has weaknesses, and it seems to be having a genre identity crisis, no doubt, but I think its creepy atmosphere and intriguing performances make up for this. The whole thing feels like one of those fireside "this happened to a friend of a friend of mine" ghost stories. One big complaint about the movie is the pacing: but the slow and sometimes awkward pacing is deliberate. Everything that unfolds in this movie is kept well within the realm of possibility, and real life just sort of plods along—no? So there are no flashy endings or earth-shattering revelations, no "showdown" scenes. Thank Heaven. You have to get into the zone when watching this movie, forget your reservations and your expectations of what makes a (conventionally)good movie. Williams isn't terrific, but he easily meets the needs of the story, plus his character is supposed to be somewhat generic ("No One") as he is the Everyman, the avatar by which we ourselves enter the story. Toni Collette's performance should be nominated for an Oscar (even if she maybe shouldn't win it). Give it a shot. For quality and content alone, The Night Listener is surely in the top twenty percent of movies coming out these days.

Interesting structure and story, and you can't really be sure what's the truth until mostly through. Slightly disturbing and interesting that the intensity of the initial story has an effect on our own perception of truth. But really, this isn't a film about deception, but about a troubled person and a sad man.

I think films I watch fit into four categories: (1) boring and difficult to get through (2) original and inspiring (3) action/fun but simple (4) a sunday film which has cliched elements but is interesting enough.

This fits into (4). So, recommended to watch, but probably forgetable after a year