I need to clear up a few misunderstandings about the movie Phone Booth.  First, it is not a rip-off of the vastly inferior Wesley Snipes movie Liberty Stands Still, which was released in the same year.  Phone Booth was actually born in the mind of screenwriter Larry Cohen in the 1960s, and was even discussed with legendary director Alfred Hitchcock, who said that it was a great idea but could never be done.  Second, is the fact that Phone Booth is NOT slow or boring.  At first I found it hard to believe that this could even be a legitimate response to a viewing of this movie, but then something dawned on me.  

In 2001, a survey was conducted with a target market of high school and early college aged people.  In this survey, they were asked what the best movie OF ALL TIME was, and the winning, yet moronic, response was The Fast And The Furious!  This proved two things to me.  One: that the average person cannot remember anything past 6 months ago, even something that may have had an impact on their life.  Two: that these people's favorite movie was a film about cars.  Fast cars.  Shiny cars.  Vroom, Vroom.  Oh, the humanity.  I am willing to concede that this film could be entertaining, but the best movie you have ever seen?  Dear Lord.  So the next time you hear someone say how boring Phone Booth was, ask them how many times they have seen 2 Fast 2 Furious, and then never speak with that person again.

So forget everything that you have ever heard about Phone Booth and just go buy it.  Please.  I beg of you to help restore my respect for my fellow man!  I suppose if I MUST tell you all the reasons why...oh, all right.

Colin Farrell is Stuart (call him Stu) Shepard; who is, in the words of director Joel Shumacher, is "basically an asshole".  Stu fashions himself to be a publicist, but in actuality is little more that a common street hustler; living a life of lies and deceit, all the while lusting after an up-and-coming actress (Katie Holmes) and not mentioning this fact to his neglected wife (Radha Mitchell).  He is king of the streets and answerable to no one...or so he believes.  I  mean, it's all good as long as no one gets hurt right?   Right?  Well, at least one person feels a little differently about his lifestyle than Stu does...and that one person is going to make a change.

While conducting his devious business from a New York payphone, Stu finds himself answering one very fateful call.  On the other end of the line is a man who has drawn a bead on Stu with his high-powered sniper rifle, and is after two things.  Atonement and exposure.  Atonement from Stu for the life he has lived and the injustices he has committed, and exposure of his deeds to the world outside.  And this therapy session will take place entirely inside a phone booth on a bustling street...  If Stu attempts to hang up, he is a dead man.  The next 80 minutes is intense.

Phone Booth was not as easy to pull off as it sounds.  In fact I would go so far as to say that it may be one of the most difficult films to make since Alfred Hitchcock's Rope.  Rope was a true test of Hitchcock's directing abilities, not only because it was his first color film, but in that the entire movie was shot in 8 minute takes, on a single set (this limit was due to the fact that the cameras of the time could only hold 8 minutes of film).  This presented an enormous challenge to both Hitchcock and his actors, as there was much more demand placed on the amount of angles that could be shot, the amount of lines each actor was forced to deliver per take, and the amount of creativity necessary to capture an audience.

Phone Booth shared those same challenges, and many more of its own.  Shot in only 10 real shooting days (a horribly small amount), with two weeks of rehearsal time, the movie was a true test of everyone involved.  Due to the tight time constraints, filming days were shot of what is called "French Hours"; which means that there were no lunch breaks.  This way, filming can continue, uninterrupted, for the entire day.  Yet even that "day" was shortened, since the film takes place in close to real time during a single afternoon.  Evenings and nights were useless for filming, cutting the short shooting schedule in half again.  Combine all of this with the amount of lines each actor was forced to move through in the tight shoot, and you get an amazingly taxing experience for the entire cast and crew.

But you can hardly tell!  Each and every actor turns in inspired performances; even though the challenged were many.  Besides the grueling shoot schedule, there was the weather.  Production was forced to leave New York after a half-day of filming in Times Square, when the winter weather proved far too cold; but the new location in Los Angeles was not exactly warm either.  Then there was the difficulty of trying to catch cues from actors who were out of your earshot; forcing many of the actors to wear hidden earpieces and mics.  These allowed for shots that encompassed the entire set, in which all the actors could still operate in synch.  And speaking of listening to the actors, try to make out Colin Ferrell's native Irish, or co-star Radha Mitchell's Australian accents...both stars do a great job of the recognizable Bronx accent.

Colin Farrell turns in his best performance to date as the distraught Stu, and is the sole person who carries the film.  When you set a film in a single phone booth for 80 minutes, you need a powerful actor to pull the audience in and sell the film.  Colin doesn't pull you in, so much as he takes you by the throat and throttles you with a barrage of brilliant scenes.  This man goes through every single emotion possible in a human being and does so in one film.  Proud, victorious, content, ecstatic, happy, confused, concerned, upset, angry, enraged, afraid, terrified, distraught, panicked, wild, low, broken.  All are portrayed with a skill that sets Colin Farrell up as a force to be reckoned with.  In fact, near the end of the film, he nailed one long and difficult scene on the first take and was so powerful and amazing that the cast and crew on set burst into a spontaneous round of applause when Schumacher called, "Cut!".

But all was not struggle and strife for the cast, as (in another break from Hollywood tradition) the film was shot in continuity (scenes were filmed in the order they appear).  This allowed for the emotion of the script to build with each and every take and added greatly to the actor's understanding of their characters.

But not only the actors were pushed beyond their means and forced to rise to meet the challenge.  A variety of angles are required to make a movie set in a single set interesting.  However, being able to do this without revealing any of the other equipment on set is no easy feat.  But instead of compromising the visual integrity for ease of shooting, cinematographer Matthew Libatique worked veritable miracles on screen.  This was no easy task on a set where even the director, Schumacher and script supervisor, Mikayla Abromowitz, were forced to duck into doorways on the street or hide behind the "background actors" (Schumacher hates to call them "extras") so as not to be on screen.  But if anyone was up to the challenge it was the man who had worked on Pi and Requiem For A Dream previously and wowed audiences around the world.

But no matter how well the actors performed or the crew put things together, there was still some rough times ahead for Phone Booth.  In sympathetic response to the real-life sniper attacks which took place on America's East Coast, the release of this much anticipated film was postponed.  But, for a movie that was supposed to be frightening in its believability, this twist of fate now makes the subject matter hit home all the more.

So whether for its great filmmaking, wonderful acting, or if only for the fact that it takes a good shot at uptight-rapper Eminem; Phone Booth is not one to miss.  So on July 8th, Phone Booth comes calling on DVD, and you had BETTER answer the call.

-aaron-
 

Directed By: Joel Schumacher   Written By: Larry Cohen   Cast: Colin Farrell Kiefer Sutherland Forest Whitaker Radha Mitchell Katie Holmes Richard T. Jones Dell Yount

DVD Features: English, Spanish & French Audio Tracks English & Spanish Subtitles Dual Format Presentation - Full & Widescreen Audio Commentary By Director Joel Schumacher Theatrical Trailer