Lifeline

I didn't make this movie to the end. I got too bored.

The synopsis seemed good. A suicide-prevention call-center worker gets a strange call from someone who seems to know all about him. The setting puts him all alone on New Years Eve. I also like the lead actor, who starred in the much-superior "The Collector."

I thought the movie would've worked as a straight popcorn flick: he just gets a call from some deranged person or evil supernatural entity. That's the easy direction that they could (and should) have gone to make a fun flick. Instead, they go in another direction , with all sort of flashbacks to the main character's childhood. I won't spoil, but the mysterious caller represents some sort of psychological message (or something alone those lines). There's just talk and talk and talk

Again, I tuned out around the 45-min mark

3/10.

The movie started well, caracters study was good, the actors were decent, but then I realized the movie was dragging and not wanting to get to the the fulcral point of the narrative. When I realized the core plot only started being developed almost at the end of the run-time, I felt something was off. It ended being a run of the mill twilight zone wannabe but very stretched out. The message had good intentions, but it was written in a very forced artificial way. This could have been a much better movie, if it had gone the sci-fi route, but I guess they didn't know what they were aiming for, or maybe they did, but the execution was flawed. It has a very decent photography, and it's a shame how it ended so abruptly. It kept me hooked until the end, but the cheap ending, and some redundant micro plots, didn't do it for me. The plot holes were also lazy writing. With a bit more effort in the narrative, they could have had an Indy gem.

A real puzzle of story with crisp, natural dialogue and a fantastic lead performance by Josh Stewart. Surprising at several turns. Flies by and leaves you thinking about what is real and what is not, what is in the past and what is in the present. I found myself switching perspectives and perceptions about the reality time, the state of Steven's mind, the possibility of so many unknowns.

There are beautiful sequences and while not exactly scary, there are times when the suspense if palpable and uncomfortable enough to cause some nail-biting.

It is a film I would watch again to test assumptions I made the first time round.

The most rewarding aspect of this film is how slowly, seamlessly and believably one is drawn into the "aha" moments of the main character's realizations about his own reality. Josh Stewart's acting was on parr with a great screenplay, drawing you into his life and his relationships with warmth and sincerity that made you feel like his friend, and a bystander all at once. The location for almost the entire film is a relatable, plainer-than-plain office building setting, which is a great contrast to the level of emotional impact the film has on its audience. I look forward to watching this again!

This movie has a strong message and should be seen. But. All the little carefully planted mysterious things we encounter throughout the story that makes us continue are sadly tied together in the least innovative way in the last few minutes which makes the whole movie seem worse than it was. Not exaggerating when I thought of it as a waste of time just after finishing it.

Almost any other explanation, except for maybe the main character waking up at home from a dream, would have been fine. But even that ending would have made more sense. Too bad, since the acting was great and they made a suspenseful story out of very few actors and sets.