Customer Reviews

1-900 [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Dutch has certainly formed a pretty entertaining short film with 1-900. Erotic? Well, perhaps, but it is through the exchange of fantasies between a man and a woman(Interestingly... the cast consists of only two actors) in distant locations. It is interesting how their `unusual' relationship unfolds from an awkward beginning(each trying to act accordingly to what is expected) to something more emotionally entrenched. Due to the lack of scenic change, the viewers become rather engrossed with the characters conversations over the phone. Quite unique I'd say. One simple film, with a straightforward plot... yet superior to most films I've seen. Five stars out of five!

A surprising and eye-opening tale about lonely people in the Netherlands. Two strangers meet on a phone sex line in modern day Netherlands. Their lives are such that they go out and meet people and may even have significant others in their lives, but they still feel empty and lonely and feel a need to reach out for something more. Significantly they do not at first acknowledge their emptiness and loneliness. They simply call this phone sex line to feel some connection to someone, even if it is only nervous and surface chat about sex. The film is stunning because it employs very little scenery and only two characters. You never see anyone else and all of their interactions take place over the phone. After talking once (the woman calls the man because she does not want to divulge her phone number, her real name or the city in which she lives) they agree to have a regular time for talking. Their relationship develops over the phone and it becomes clear from their interactions that they care about each other, as strange as it seems, on a deeper level... as more than just phone sex partners or as a voice on the end of the line. This development is well handled and very convincing. Eventually when they reach a level of real human intimacy, the woman still will not tell the man her identity. When she phones him at the appointed time one day someone else answers (or what sounds like someone else). She is startled and the person who answers announces that he is the man's father and is going through his things because the man had died earlier in the week. The woman is visibly devastated by this sudden news, and she becomes quite unnerved and asks a lot of questions. The father says that he does not feel like discussing the details of his son's suicide but would call her back if she permitted him to. She provides all her contact information, and then he tells her that it was all a joke and that it is really him, not the father, and that he was still alive. You can see that she is so relieved and so glad that he is really alive, but at the same time she is furious that he took advantage of her and lied to her that way. She tells him they will never speak again, and the next week when their appointed phone date arrives, the film shows both of them silently sitting by the telephones but doing nothing. It was a rather heartbreaking work which really felt unsettling because it was so true to life and so... close to home. Even when you have people around who love you and are close to you, you can still feel so lonely and crave attention from some other person or medium, and this film illustrated that delicate frustration so well.

There are always people who are lonely and/or are seeking happiness for the moment. This story depicts this through the use of the brilliant invention by Bell, the telephone. As the story is set in motion there is a man, Thomas, who answers a phone sex ad and presents himself as someone who enjoys art, which results in him matching interests and age that another caller, Sarah, wishes for. In reality, Thomas is an equal with Sarah in his sense of art, but nothing else. Lies begin during their first session where they shyly introduce each other over the phone; however, as they talk their shyness disappears. They talk about many issues in their lives which leads the story into humor, tragedy, lies, and truths. However, Thomas has needs that remain unfulfilled when he is seeking contact with her because she remains distant and refuses to share her phone number with him. 1-900 is an intriguing film that provides some interesting dialogues that leads to stimulating perspectives in the development of a phone-relationship.

1-900, originally called "06", by the so tragically murdered Dutch director Theo van Gogh is a very provocative movie about loneliness, communication, relationships and phantasies, set in a, on first sight, rather unique situation for a movie. Like the director himself there was a lot of controversy around the movie. When one looked at the poster one would think to be in for a very erotic and sexually explicit movie.

Well, anyone going into the cinema with that expectation, would have been quite disappointed, for what you get is a very harsh emotional and psychological drama around two people making contact over a sexline to fulfill their need for socio-sexual release, hoping to feel a bit less lonely that way. The contact slowly devolves into a regular power struggle between two people, dare I say the two sexes, that can only end up leaving them where they started, alone and with an unfulfilled longing to have their barriers broken down and at the same time being mortally afraid of the vulnarability this would result in.

The drama is very intense and rarely erotic, because you sense much more the sadness of these two people and the way they really try to be close, through sex as the supposedly ultimate way of achieving intimacy with another person, and yet end up more isolated then ever.

It's a fearless and provocative movie, which is typical for this director, and actually cost him his very life in the end.

Dutch provocateur Theo Van Gogh seemed to court controversy in life and in film. His final work "Submission" stirred enough hatred, in fact, that it cost him his life at the hands of a Muslim extremist in 2004. It was truly a loss for international cinema. I'm not sure why so few Van Gogh films have been granted a North American distribution--but "1-900" is an interesting effort that set the stage for his later masterworks.

This piece from 1994 is perhaps the gentlest work in Van Gogh's oeuvre, but it still aims to provoke. A two person drama that unfolds entirely through phone conversations, it is reliant (as are all his films) on verbal sparring and gamesmanship. When a middle-aged architect answers a sex ad, a mysterious stranger enters his life. Their relationship begins awkwardly, advances quickly to passion, settles into normalcy, and then pushes past comfort. A traditional (okay, maybe not so traditional) courtship takes place entirely over the phone with neither party really knowing the other. Yet, they still become reliant on the relationship while the man, in particular, seeks to convert the bond into the real world. The two become increasingly unstable as truth blends with fiction and neither can achieve the legitimate connectivity that they desire. It's an interesting notion, to be sure, but having seen the picture a couple of times--I'm not sure the pay-off is particularly satisfying. An experiment that works as an experiment, in my opinion, as opposed to a truly great film. But it definitely set the stage for later Van Gogh films that utilize the same principles of gender conflict. KGHarris, 9/11.

1-900 (1994)
directed by Theo van Gogh
approx. 1 hour 15 minutes

This movie is about as "deep" as you could possibly go in depicting a phone sex arrangement. A man and a woman have a "relationship" where they have phone sex sessions every Thursday. They get attached to one another, only they've both fibbed about who they are and have decided it would be best to keep it on the phone. Nevertheless, the outside world creeps into their fantasies and it all comes crumbling down. The two find it difficult to sustain their connection and things get more morose as the movie winds down.

This movie is well done when you consider that it really only consists of dialogue and masturbation between two characters. Ariane Schluter reminds me of Laura Dern at times. However, while I can easily enjoy dialogue-heavy movies such as 'MY DINNER WITH ANDRE', "erotica" is often tedious and not entertaining or arousing. Slain filmmaker Theo van Gogh succeeded in making an interesting movie while utilizing only a few elements, but the panting and onanism are not for everyone.

This director has his own pace and style in his films...1-900 is no
exception. I guess you'll always wonder what would have been had not that
senseless tragedy happened.

Even if taken as some sort of social litmus test for wackos, 1-900 can only be described as disturbing and only mildly thought provoking. The male (Thomas) characer is immediately defined by what he is not:truthful, caring, confident, and well grounded. The female (Sarah) charcter takes much longer to fully "flesh-out". Whereas Thomas is dull, combative, and frought with insecurities Sarah seems assertive, focused, and well connected to the outside world. As the movie lumbers on we find out that although Thomas is incredibly flawed as a human being, Sarah also has serious issues. Their collective shortcomings might make them human, but in the end we find out that Thomas is a sadistic wreck of a man living in lies and Sarah is living a life that borders on compulsive sexual addiction that leaves her unfulfilled in every possible way. In the context of a character study of severely flawed human beings, the film works. Unfortunately it's being pawned off as a love story...this it is not. Save your money.

1-900 was fascinating - and very sexy. I'm glad I was able to find a copy. Arrived timely and viewed when recived - right away.