Film: The Night Listener
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: August 4th, 2006
Distributor: Miramax
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 1 hrs. 30 min.
Review by Sirus

Starring:
Robin Williams
Toni Collette

The Night Listener starts out very strange kaleidoscope type intro showing different parts of people all turned around and making the familiar shapes one comes to expect from a kaleidoscope. This alone would be enough to give you the impression that something very strange would be going on in the movie which definitely keeps things interesting throughout.

The basic story starts you out with Gabriel Noone, a radio talk show host who reads all sorts of stories to the audience. Gabriel is losing his interest in his show and one day his friend gives him a manuscript for a book that is supposedly written by a 14 year old boy. The story haunts Gabriel with its raw emotion. The story details scenes of the boy’s rape at a young age. Soon after reading the manuscript, Gabriel gets a phone call from the boy’s mother to tell him her son wants to meet him.

Gabriel has many long talks with the boy about relationships and all sorts of things. Being a semi celebrity, Gabriel’s boyfriend is no secret to the boy or anyone else for that matter. One time, when Gabriel’s boyfriend is over, the boy and his mother talk on speaker phone and Gabriel’s boyfriend asks if Gabriel thinks the boy and his mother sound like the same person. Gabriel doesn’t think much of it at first and is actually very offended but begins to question the truth himself as he realizes that there is nobody besides his mother who claims to have actually seen him.

This leads Gabriel on a hunt for the truth which sadly never gets the truth. The viewers are never told if the boy really exists or not and thus leaves it up to personal interpretation. Some people might like the open ended ness of the movie but I found it to be quite disruptive because I like closure. Overall though, the movie was very interesting to follow the story even though it kept at a quite slow pace throughout. There really isn’t much of anything objectionable in the movie besides a little language and some gay humor. Despite its flaws, I found the pace relaxing and I think it is worth watching if the trailer intrigues you.


Final Rating: 4/5 Stars