''The Caller'' is a 2008 film by

Richard Ledes Richard Ledes is an American filmmaker and writer based in New York City, best known for his 2012 feature film drama ''Fred Won't Move Out'' about Alzheimer, Alzheimer's disease starring Elliott Gould and Fred Melamed. Background He studied An ...

. The film, which stars

Frank Langella Frank A. Langella Jr. (; born January 1, 1938) is an American stage and film actor. He has won four Tony Awards: two for Best Leading Actor in a Play for his performance as Richard Nixon in Peter Morgan's '' Frost/Nixon'' and as André in Flor ...

, Elliott Gould, and

Laura Harring Laura Elena, Countess von Bismarck-Schönhausen (née Martínez Herring; March 3, 1964), known professionally as Laura Harring, is a Mexican-American actress. In 1985, Harring became the first Hispanic woman crowned Miss USA. She later began her ...

, premiered at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was f ...

where it won the Made in NY Narrative Award. The screenplay was co-authored with Alain Didier-Weill.

Plot

Jimmy Stevens (

) is a high level executive at an international energy consulting firm. Haunted by the criminal practices of his company, he decides to expose their corruption. He realizes this betrayal will lead to his murder, so he hires out a detective to trail him during his last days. Unaware that the man who has hired him and the man he is following are one and the same, Turlotte ( Elliott Gould) begins a thrilling game of cat and mouse with Stevens and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

becomes the arena for the uncertain contest. Slowly, the investigation begins to yield clues that come to reveal the larger story of Jimmy's mysterious past. As hints of his childhood in occupied France during World War II are unearthed, a haunting memory surrounding a lone, dying man and the two young boys who witness his last breath becomes the key to the present. As the clock winds down and the hired guns close in on Jimmy, Turlotte puts the puzzle pieces together with just enough time to fulfill his fated duty.

Cast

as Jimmy Stevens * Elliott Gould as Frank Turlotte *

as Eileen * Corey Johnson as Paul Winsail * Edoardo Ballerini as Teddy *

Helen Stenborg Helen Joan Stenborg (January 24, 1925 – March 22, 2011) was an American actress of stage, screen, and television. She occasionally acted with her husband, actor Barnard Hughes (1915–2006), to whom she was married for 56 years from 1950 until ...

as Jimmy's mother

Reception

As of June 2014, the film had a score of 13% on Rotten Tomatoes from 16 reviews. The ''New York Post'' gave it a critical review calling it an "opaque oddity" and suggesting it only received a theatrical release because of Frank Langella's Oscar nomination. ''Time Out New York'' gave it 2 stars. ''Screen International'' called it "ponderous".

References

External links

* 2008 films Films directed by Richard Ledes American independent films 2000s thriller films Films set in New York City 2008 independent films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films English-language thriller films {{2000s-thriller-film-stub