Tessa Thompson brings calm, poise and focus to this low-key actor-project-type drama which is unsure exactly where to place its emotional revelation or how much dramatic emphasis to put on it. But, thanks to Thompson, it is certainly watchable, for all that you expect some off-camera voice to say “scene” at the end of each big speech. It is written by the Italian producer turned screenwriter Alessandro Camon, who co-scripted Oren Moverman’s The Messenger, and Steve Buscemi directs.
Thompson is alone on screen for an hour and a half, playing a helpline volunteer working from home in her LA apartment, setting the alarm so she can get up to start work in the dead of night, listening to people who are anxious, depressed, scared or just bored – and speaking to them with courtesy and professionalism, she is relaxed and friendly (but not too friendly), and where appropriate offering other counselling services. She has a professional name – Beth – for privacy reasons. Like an emergency services phone operator or a phone-in radio show host (though unlike Frasier, she does not say “I’m listening”), she is serially plunged into other people’s micro-dramas, but is also weirdly insulated from them.
