Phone-booth...

Isn't it funny - you hear a phone ringing and it could be anybody? But a ringing phone has to be answered, doesn't it? Phone Booth
Spoilers, and bad language below

Think about it, it is a simple premise; there is a man in a phone booth – if he leaves he dies. His lies catch up with him. [Interesting and understandable the film’s release was delayed due to the Washington Sniper last year]

I saw the preview for this film and was hooked. I watched it over the last weekend. It’s a pretty psychological film. Designed that you identify with Stu himself. That is, what's your "sin". The Guardian review made a beaut observation that the Phone booth became a confessional and potentially a coffin. The tension is kept up with the involvement of hookers who are trying to use the phone, and the cops who come after the hookers pimp is killed by the sniper [or as all others believe, Stu himself].

Stu Shepard, a publicist, goes to a phone booth to make a call. He makes the same call each day, he calls a budding actress to, and is trying to entice her into an affair. The Phone rings … he answers it ...

The caller is a self appointed judge, or moral avenger, killing a photographer who did not admit that he was a paedophile, a stockbroker, who took all of his money out just before the a crash. Stu’s crime is his lies; well no perhaps its more than that, his crime is that he is married, and committing adultery – ‘perfect violation’, adultery in his mind. A flaw of the film here is in comparison to the other executions Stu is relatively minor. And his confession [with vivid, real emotion] –

I have never done anything for anybody who couldn't do something for me. I string along an eager kid with promises I'll pay him money. I only keep him around because he looks up to me. Adam, if you're watching, don't be a publicist. You're too good for it. I lie in person and on the phone. I lie to my friends. I lie to newspapers and magazines who, who sell my lies to more and more people. I am just a part of a big cycle of lies, I should be fuckin' president. I wear all this Italian shit because underneath I still feel like the Bronx. I think I need these clothes and this watch. My Two thousand dollar watch is a fake and so am I. I've neglected the things I should have valued most. I valued this shit. I take off my wedding ring to call Pam. Kelly, that's Pam. Don't blame her. I never told her I was married. And if I did she, she would have told me to go home. Kelly, looking at you now, I'm ashamed of myself. Allright? I mean, work so hard on this image, on Stu Shepherd, the asshole who refers to himself in the third person that I only proved I should be alone. I have just been dressing up as something I'm not for so long, I'm so afraid no one will like what's underneath. But here I am, just flesh and blood and weakness, and uh and I love you so fucking much. And, um, I take off this ring because it only reminds me of how I've failed you, and I don't, don't want to give you up. I want to make things better, but it may not be my choice anymore. You deserve better.

As you can see, his crimes are not simply the affair, but his selfishness; the sort that is endemic in our society. And the confession is not for the caller; but for himself; letting his wife know of his crimes, and at the end his wife gives him the out; “we’ll only talk about what you want to”.

It’s a challenging film; saddening in the sense that it takes circumstances such as that for us to look at our actions. It was a good film; the language is quite intense at times, reflecting the situation, but was still hard for me. I also thought another strength of the film was its ending.. (but you'll have to watch it for that ...)