The Landline Detective

Cleverly written mystery. Cleverly presented.

Clearly low-budget. Some of the voice acting is amateurish. But this movie is well-worth the watch.

The simplicity of the action and of the set would make this a great stage play.

I would never have believed that an old guy on a phone could keep me riveted to the screen for so long. Who needs sets, deep score. or anything. When you have incredible writing and superb acting... I guess that's all you need. Could you please re-make Dial M for Murder now and I guarantee a 10!

Considering the entire movie consists of one single man in the same room; most of the time sitting in the same chair, talking on the phone you'd think it would be boring. Not at all! Jimmy is sorting through old family photos so they can finally be put into albums. Something which he and wife have meant to do for years. He's decided while his wife is on vacation with friends, he'll do it. While he's going through the pictures to put them in chronological order, he comes across a Polaroid that puzzles him. After calling his daughter, who'd taken the picture as a child 35 years ago, he begins to realize that the seemingly innocuous photo holds a clue to the still unsolved murder of his sister-in-law. He starts calling people to try to put the pieces together and figure out what happened.

I was enthralled by the Tom Hardy movie Locke (2013) and fascinated how they pulled off a whole film with a single actor on screen. When I saw that The Landline Detective had a similar premise, I thought I'd give it a look, and I'm glad I did. There is nothing flashy about the film - no special effects, no big stars. It's a low budget production with all its strength in its idea: an ordinary man stumbles upon something related to the murder of his sister-in-law 30 years ago and, armed only with his landline telephone, sets out to investigate further. There is humour, tension and a plot twist, and yes, it keeps your interest till the end. Sure, you could find faults with the film, but giving it a chance might pay dividends. Just as a huge budget doesn't guarantee a good film, a small budget doesn't preclude it.

This was very enjoyable, it was like an audio book with visuals. A good little mystery about an older man who is not into cell phones, iPads or computers.