Le Téléphone de M. Harrigan

Just finished watching and was pleasantly surprised. I didn't think that Mr Harrington's Phone would be a good enough storyline to be brought to the big-screen but, evidently, it has. The people moaning about it not being scary are way off. The short novella was really good but it was more of a drama like the movie. The movie does differ on some aspects of the source material and I don't know why it did as it worked perfectly fine in the writing. All I'll say is, don't expect horror. You'll not at one single point be scared, but the book never tried to be. It's just down simply as horror as that description goes down well with movie descriptions and Stephen King.

We live in an 'instant age.' We're used to getting what we want immediately. So, anyone giving this film a bad review probably didn't understand the need to focus and apply patience to a story that unfolds gradually. It is impeccably written. All the story setups and essential bases are cleverly covered. It is brilliantly made with authentic characters supported with superb acting. It moves at comfortable pace with no dull moment or drawn-out, unnecessary scene. An all-round excellent film. Give it a chance and be receptive to rare, excellent storytelling. It could be one of the the best films you've seen in a long time.

It was surprisingly simple what they did with this novella adaptation, and Stephen King's at that. The 'King of Horror' penned an anthology titled "If It Bleeds" (published, 2020), and "Mr. Harrigan's Phone" was one of its offerings.

John Lee Hancock did remarkable work on direction and screenplay for this Netflix production. That old Stephen King magic prevailed, and helped ensure a literary flair was present throughout the story and around its characters.

I could see this movie getting buried (pun intended) by fans and sundry if it was any other script than one from the mind of King. The movie had a relaxed pace, and contained nothing truly horrific. The suspense was strong, though. Also, Donald Sutherland's voice and performance held it all together.

Javier Navarrete's musical scoring wonderfully complemented the work of the editing and sound effects teams. John Schwartzman's cinematography was amazing. Production design by Michael Corenblith, set decoration, and art direction did great work as well. Daniel Orlandi's costume design was minimal.

Donald Sutherland stole every scene he was in, and was the most intriguing character in "Mr. Harrigan's Phone". Aside from Stephen King's involvement, the main reason I saw this movie was because they cast the unmatched Sutherland in the role of the titular character. That man has screen presence for days, and is one of my favourite yesteryear stars. Also, his character's mansion was spellbinding in its own right.

Jaeden Martell's take on Craig was a blend of vulnerability and conviction. He did great work in the role. His younger version, played by Colin O'Brien, was good.

Victoria Hart, played by Kirby Howell-Baptiste, was interesting. Cyrus Arnold as Kenny Yankovich was a right royal &^%$, and hit all the right provocative notes. Craig's dad, played by Joe Tippett, was good. The phone store clerk, played by Alex Bartner, was notable. Edna Grogan, played by Peggy J. Scott, was amazing. Hers was a criminally under-rated performance. All others did good work in "Mr. Harrigan's Phone" streaming now on Netflix.

Simple takes and steady storytelling dictated the flow of this movie. Powerful dialogues and a literary 'show don't tell' style also helped make it memorable. The sustained mystery of whom Craig was communicating with if not the by-then-deceased Mr. Harrigan and how repercussions came to those who justly deserved it made the movie engaging. In classic Stephen King style, the ending of this movie was left open to interpretation.

When I saw the trailer for this film, I was kind of excited since it's based on a story for Stephen King, and the premise was interesting, plus the two main lead actors (Donald Sutherland, Jaeden Martell) are definitely great.

As the story progress, I kept waiting for the cool parts to start happening, but sadly they hardly ever happened, and all we saw is a big indirect advertising campaign for iphone (not that Apple needs it), but seriously the whole movie is based on the iphone.

Another thing that got me confused is how the movie's genre says "horror" but it has no such thing, it's very misleading, it's more of a drama thriller.

I loved the parts when Craig was reading to Harrigan, and how their relationship got stronger, in spite of the vast difference between them.

I guess the main message the film is trying to convey is the effect of modern technology (in this case the smartphone) on our lives, and how it completely disengage us from the real world, and end up controlling us and feeding us lies. And also to be careful what we wish for.

"When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers". Oscar Wilde.

First things first -- like many people, I binge horror in October, generally one movie a day from the 1st through the 30th, then, time allowing, two or three on Halloween itself. This movie was my choice for today (I've seen so many horrors that I have to look off the beaten path for new ones sometimes, and sometimes I just get lazy and re-watch an old favorite) So my disappointment stems largely from the fact that I was hoping for an actual horror to fill my daily horror movie.)

This movie had horror elements. That I'll concede. But it wasn't really, overall, in the horror genre. It was a decent drama, and had it been sold as that, with just traces of horror, I would have waited to watch it in November and would have enjoyed it to some extent. Unfortunately, the story of the young boy and the elderly man who became a mentor (of sorts, since the young man never really seemed to completely buy into the old man's rather brutal outlook on life) was interesting for reasons completely unhorrific and selling this movie as a horror -- as of now, that's the only genre tag on its IMDb page -- is likely to alienate people who might otherwise enjoyed the movie on its own merits.