An enjoyable 'one act' or 'single shot' sort of film.
Starting with the same salesman junk calls we all receive, our star James goes about the business of his day.
He starts organizing photos and becomes puzzled by one, involving relatives.
Slowly unfolding we watch and listen as the man becomes an amateur detective from the comfort of his home.
Armed with only his phone, memories he interacts with various others only by phone as he seeks to discover who murdered his sister in law decades earlier.
Set in Hawaii, but filmed all within his home.
My only complaint really is the way various actors present their lines. Many are somewhat stilted, and clearly were reading from the script itself - not really acting. The timing is also off a bit and all this produces a lack of real feeling conversion between our man Jimmy and some of those on the phone.
The Landline Detective
2020
Crime
The Landline Detective
2020
Crime
6
Synopsis
The only thing special on this particular Monday for retiree, James "Jimmy" Furuta, is that he intends to organize the family photos of the past 30 years into neatly categorized albums. But when he uncovers a dated Polaroid shot back in 1982 of a car he once owned, his world is turned upside down. For he had sold that care to his brother-in-law and it proves he was not where he said he had been on the night before he found his wife, Jimmy's sister-in-law, murdered when he returned from a fishing trip. To get to the bottom of this mystery he begins to make phone calls to people associated with that tragedy and by day's end he will find the killer of a cold case that had been unsolved for 35 years. A story driven primarily by the phone call conversations of our hero to other characters appearing only in voiceover dialogue, "The Landline Detective" is an action packed murder mystery featuring only one on-screen character.
Uploaded By: FREEMAN
February 05, 2021 at 01:12 AM
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Tech specs
720p.WEB 1080p.WEBMovie Reviews
Very enjoyable
Absorbing
I would never have believed that an old guy on a phone could keep me riveted to the screen for so long. Who needs sets, deep score. or anything. When you have incredible writing and superb acting... I guess that's all you need. Could you please re-make Dial M for Murder now and I guarantee a 10!
Not a bad little mystery
Cleverly written mystery. Cleverly presented.
Clearly low-budget. Some of the voice acting is amateurish. But this movie is well-worth the watch.
The simplicity of the action and of the set would make this a great stage play.
