WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
For those are avid readers of my articles, you will be fully aware of the fact that I love a film with a small cast. What’s smaller than a film with only one actor? I’ve already covered two films that would fit perfectly in this article, Buried and 127 Hours, so it made sense to avoid these and look at others. There may be six featured in this article but there’s even more out there than this…
Brake
This film, for me at least, is reminiscent of Buried starring Ryan Reynolds. One man, trapped in a tight space – the only other voices being at the end of radio, in Stephen Dorff case at least. The film centres around Jeremy and Henry, but only the former is seen throughout. Even though the discussion is continuously about them both trying to escape from their respective entrapment, I had a suspicion Henry either wasn’t real or was the man who actually kidnapped Jeremy – a ploy to get the information that’s needed. I’m not sure what’s more disturbing, being trapped underground or continuously on the move with no idea where you’re going. The confusing part about this film is the countdown clock in the boot with Jeremy, why do the kidnappers keep extending the time? Unless I missed something, it doesn’t seem to have any impact on events. Unlike Buried however, Jeremy actually meets someone face to face – a dog owner who speaks to him via a bullet hole in the boot. I have to admit, I think the outcome of this film is more messed-up than if it had ended the same way as Buried.
Locke
From a film set in a car’s boot, to one in the driver’s seat. Throughout a 90-minute drive from Birmingham to London, the audience watch as Ivan Locke’s life falls apart. The phone calls start out reasonably positive even though Ivan’s tone is despairing, his son and wife talking about the match they’re supposed to be watching together and Bethan sounds positive apart from the pain she is in, as she goes into labour with his child. Gradually Ivan’s health deteriorates, clearly the stress of everything begins to take its toll on his body. With that in mind, is it the cold medicine he takes that means he begins to see his own father in the backseat of his car? A man the audience never see. The thing I found most interesting about his character is Tom Hardy’s Welsh accent, mainly because of quite how good it is. For a man that loses his job, and seemingly his family due to his infidelity, Ivan stays unbelievably calm through every single phone call he either makes or takes. He only comes close to losing his temper a couple of times. It also seems the film runs in real time, when Sister Margaret calls to inform Ivan about a complication with the labour he says that he’s an hour away and the run time of the film has 51-minutes remaining by this point.
Moon
In a weird kind of way, this film is focused on two characters – but they are actually the same character, both played by Sam Rockwell. Very quickly, the audience will start to realise that things may not be quite as they seem with this film as within a matter of minutes Sam must go out to ‘Matthew’ – both times for the same reason as he mentions “we’ve got a live one”. There’s also what seems to be the flickering of a future version of himself on the dashboard, but it seems to turn out to be one from the past. Outside of the intermittent video messages from his partner, this film reminded me a little bit of 2001: A Space Odessey as this is a film based around a man out in space with only an AI to keep him company. The difference being that Sam is alone and GERTY isn’t a killer like H.A.L. Yes, it turns out GERTY is hiding quite a bit but that doesn’t make him evil, especially as he chooses to help here and there along the way. The biggest question of them all has be how long has Sam Bell, in any cloned iteration, been away from Earth. Obviously there are little clues, like the fact that his daughter is 15 years old by the time he is finally able to call home.
The Man Who Sleeps
It’s very rare that you’ll find a foreign film appear in one of these articles but here we are. Based on the novel A Man Asleep, our main character never speaks throughout the 87 minute run time. The only voice heard is that of Shelley DuVall, in the English narrated version anyway. The audience watch as this unknown man, we are never given his name and he is only referred to as ‘you’, begins to separate himself from daily life and the people that come with it. Other actors are seen here and there but only as part of the scenery – like the cook from the café that formed part of his old routine, or the commuters in the hustle and bustle – almost forming a juxtaposition between that business of daily life and the quietness that has begun to form within our main character. It’s strange, but I would love to know how the original narration by Ludmila Mikaël would sound as DuVall’s is surprisingly relaxing even though she is quite clearly explaining our character’s spiral into depression and potential journey towards suicide.
The Human Voice
This is the shortest film of the lot and, being based in a single room for it’s full duration, only stars Ingrid Bergman. There are no extras walking by and no other voices at the opposite end of the calls. The strength she shows while on the call to her ex-lover is a powerful opposite to the clear turmoil and fear that is shown by Bergman in the opening scenes – afraid of her reflection as it shows her that she is evidently scared of getting old and that this relationship ending has made it clear to her. I was curious at first about her fear of the dog however as you would naturally assume this is her home making it her pet but it seems that he is her ex’s dog. This is clearly a strong woman doing whatever she can to stay that way – to not show him any weakness. Even doing what she can to avoid him hearing her cry on the phone. I guess this is the whole point of why the film is called The Human Voice because of how much emotion we can hide or give away with it.
The Noah
This is the type of film I was expecting Cast Away to be (the film I was originally going to use) but I’ll be honest, I’m glad it turned out not to be the case as I wouldn’t have watched this gem. From beginning to end, Noah is just one man alone on an island. Robert Strauss doesn’t even speak until around 15 minutes into the film, responding to the call of his name. Much like Locke, when Ivan begins to talk to unseen image of his father, Noah begins talking to people that the audience can’t see, enforcing his loneliness and solitude on the island as he has clearly had to create people to converse with. There are even points, because the camera angle, it seems that even though Noah is talking to Friday – it feels as if he is talking directly to the audience as he is seated, looking directly down the camera. In a way, this film shows the strength of the mind when pushed to its limits as Noah creates several people, or personalities at least, to keep him company – including a whole class of students!
