FILMS: PHONE BOOTH

Andrés Felipe Cifuentes

Publicado en Capital Letter No. 4

Noviembre de 2003

Drama and Thriller

Director Joel Schumacher

120 min.

A phone call can change your life. This could be the summary of this movie with Collin Farrel ("Daredevil," "The Recruit") and Forest Whitaker that shows, in a dramatic way, how dangerous lies are.As the name of the movie suggests, the story takes place in one of the last phone booths that still survive in New York City.

This limited setting could be considered as a negative factor, but the fact is that Collin Farrel makes an excellent performance transmitting the fear and the stress of the situation to the spectator. On the other hand, we find Kiefer Sutherland pretending to act as God, trying to take justice into his own hands, reinforcing the idea that anyone in North America can buy a gun easier than a car. Finally, the American cinema is not complete without a serviceable smart cop, Forest Whitaker, just carrying out his duty.

The most enjoyable issue of this film is the way in which it is presented in the screen: the action starts suddenly, the perspective of the "riffle guy", the choreographed dance of the cameras that captures simultaneously action, the mysteriously strong voice of Sutherland, the paranoia feeling that someone is watching over you. But the most interesting thing in the movie is the message behind the story: lies are as dangerous as guns, and what is more, sometimes we need to correct the course of our lives, if it is not too late.

Qualification:

Very good. Watch it and do not miss any detail.