Listening

"You're trying to read the contents of an entire library by walking through the aisles. You gotta open the books to know what's really going on inside."

What if someone else could read your mind? Does that thought scare you off ? Or can you see some perspectives and opportunities in this technology? And how long would it take before a government would order their secret service to focus on it and obtain the required technology ? Before you know it, you're in the middle of a "Big Brother" situation. You're not only monitored visually, but also your personal thoughts are intercepted. Or worse, a certain dictatorial mindset is being penetrated into your consciousness. Every power-hungry nutcase starts drooling after seeing this method. That's the basic idea of "Listening". A technological innovation with far-reaching effects mixed with a personal crisis.

Ultimately, my general feeling about "Listening" is of a disappointed nature. The film had so much potential and opportunities, but because of some faint situations and a fairly implausible denouement, it's reduced to a laudable attempt. Let there be no doubt, the original idea is far from bad. A revolutionary development in the neurological sector, realistically portrayed with an abundance of technical equipment and commented upon in a complicated jargon. Although the latter tends to sound like outright gibberish sometimes. Could this technology be achieved in reality, this clearly would lead to the bankruptcy of the mobile telephony industry.

Most of the scenes take place in a messy garage. However, these are the most compelling fragments in this film. Also they used a remarkable wide range of colors. The various chapters are filmed in a different flashy color. This requires some adjustment and it started me worrying about the color scheme of my television. Every time a blue, red or yellow fragment appeared, I checked my settings. But in the end this gave the film its own personal touch. The disadvantage of a low-budget film is of course the low budget (how surprising) what leads to a limited use of stunning visual effects. This becomes abundantly clear with the stereoscopic images during a telepathic connection.

The only things remaining are the characters and the philosophy behind the story. The core idea behind the story is crucial in order to make a low-budget movie successful. If it doesn't look impressive, the story must be intriguing enough to make it interesting. As I said earlier, the idea was interesting enough and had plenty of material to provoke discussions. I can imagine that this will be debated widely.

Unfortunately, the whole is a bit weakened by the poor worked-out personal problems that David (Thomas Stroppel) and Ryan (Artie Ahr) are facing. There are also a few illogical things and there are some unfortunate developments. I thought it was a bit cheap that the first used telepathic thoughts were of an erotic nature. An attempt to substantiate the theory that a man is thinking about that, most of the time ? And the fact that an ancient Buddhist meditation method is able to withstand this high-tech magic, was a bit too easy. And safety precautions during the grand finale were a joke. But besides these tiny flaws, this was a not so unkind cyberpunk movie.

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Not a bad premise for a movie, and it's production value is pretty good. However it's not highly rated for a reason. Where this movie falls part is not so much in the concept per say, but in the expression of it. The script writing is not B rated, but it surely isn't driving the story. There are parts where you wonder, if it had better acting would the script have come off better. As it stands there are some parts where it seems amateurish both in the writing and the acting. There are some movies where bad actors can be uplifted by a good script (matrix) and rarely good actors can pump up a bad script (think Ray Harryhausen or any martial arts movie). This film is neither and they both seem to sink each other equally. As the writing degrades so goes the acting, as none of the actors were good enough to hold it up. Yet in the instances where the script is good the bad acting isn't so apparent. What makes the movie watchable is the concept. The concept of what they are trying to discuss and it's moral implications draw your interest. It helps set a frame work that at least makes the movie watchable. It would be interesting to know the total budget of this movie. It surely isn't block buster...but it also does not appear on the low end like a Primer. Although I think the movie would have been better suited to have more of a primer set up, disusing things cryptically and leaving in some mystery till you get into the movie. IF you like sci fi movies it's a decent sci fi watch on a boring night with nothing else to do. However, I wouldn't go dropping $7 on a ticket for it.

"Listening" is a character study that is driven by a sci-fi plot line and is dragged down by unpleasant characters and some confusion. The story involves David and Ryan, two graduate students who are working on creating a device that allows mental telepathy. Instead of explaining this to their professor and working on this potentially historical invention as their thesis with the full backing of the university, they decide - for reasons never explained - to steal a bunch of equipment and hole up in the garage of David's house that he rents with his wife and daughter.

One day, Ryan brings over Jordan, a smoking hot girl he picked up who just also happens to be a brilliant scientific grad student as well. With her assistance, they make a huge breakthrough. However, the amount of time they spend working on the device causes problems with their personal lives and the invention itself has caught the eye of the CIA...

Make no mistake -- "Listening" is not a horror film, it's not really a sci-fi film, it's not really a "warning" film about "Would you want telepathy?" It is about David and Ryan, and everything else is just the conflict these two have to face. But this one fails because of that. The two characters are eminently unlikable, and they make incomprehensible choices and decisions at every single step. Huge questions are put forth and never answered. For example, Jordan has an ability that seems to violate every rule, and when she is asked about this incredibly valuable skill, she dismisses the question and it's never brought up again. It's never explained why the CIA would be so interested, since the covert government program seems to be something very different from what David and Ryan are doing.

The acting is solid, the directing and photography is clean and professional, but I just can't say I enjoyed it enough to recommend. Perhaps that's because I was drawn in by the marketing campaign promising a sci-fi extravaganza.

The movie reminds me a lot of Primer, but Listening tries to take it up one more level. While the concept in Primer seems mostly talk, this movie movies around with you a lot more.

A group of broke college students sacrifice everything for their experiment to harness the power of the mind. In a lot of ways the story works like the social network. Two kids who come up with a great idea, and everything is cool until they figure out they changed the world, and in that moment they change (Although the movie attempts to put morals behind the change) The philosophy of the movie is pretty cool, but at times feels like it's going all over the place which makes the movie seem longer than it really is. I actually love very low budget Hard Sci-Fi films like this one that fully draw the fiction from actual fact, but there are moments where the movie bites off more than it can chew, Ironically, not with the Science part, but with the social commentary about young genius who create something they loose control of.

I did love the story and the characters in the story, no matter what, everyone was likable and you want to root for them throughout, but I would wait to stream this online one a day when you have nothing better to do.

Film is decent. Strong points are interesting concept, good pacing, and strong acting. Weak points include pretty bad dialogue and some key unbelievable plot points, weird choices in aesthetic.

The movie is worth it, but its not perfect. Constantly struck by how weird everything looks in the like yellow-green tint. Added nothing to the movie. The dialogue is also pretty unimpressive. Not a memorable or striking exchange in the movie because of the awkward word choice. However this is all made passable by the strong concept and moral questions that are brought into the scope of the film. It touches on the concept of sacrifice and freedom as we brave a new age where technology entangles with the human brain. A lot to take away as any good scifi should.