Product Details

• Actors: Frank Langella, Elliott Gould, Laura Elena Harring, Helen Stenborg, Greg Ellis
• Directors: Richard Ledes
• Format: Color, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Virgil Films and Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: April 14, 2009
• Run Time: 95 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001PWY4EK
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #179,334 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

STARRING 2009 ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE® FRANK LANGELLA (BEST ACTOR, FROST/NIXON) Jimmy Stevens (FRANK LANGELLA), a senior VP for E.N. Corporation, sets up his own assassination after sending a damaging but anonymous email with deflated sales figures for his company and attaching a video-clip containing sinister images of a clandestine burial at the energy firm's factory in Latin America. In New York the wheels of the corporation spin into action using contacts, Teddy and Sammy, from the underground to track down the whistleblower. Jimmy fears for his life, and, using the pseudonym John Doe , hires Frank Turlotte (ELLIOTT GOULD), a private detective, to follow a man and track his movements. Disguising his voice, Jimmy does not tell Turlotte that the person who has hired him, and the man he is to trail are one and the same. Increasingly obsessed with Turlotte's opinion of his life, Jimmy engages in a game of cat and mouse, phoning Turlotte each evening for a report, and taunting him into discovering more and more details of his life. Jimmy eventually tells Turlotte that his job is over except for one more meeting in Redhook, Brooklyn. Turlotte is now intrigued enough to get to know Eileen (LAURA HARRING), a jazz singer and Jimmy's companion, and her seven-year-old daughter, Lila. Jimmy tells Lila a story about his childhood in 1940s France: One day towards the end of the war, Jimmy and his friend Lulu found a dying soldier in the woods. The soldier had requested that Lulu stay with him until his death. It was an episode that has haunted Jimmy ever since, and initiated his greatest wish, that he should not die alone.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding minimalist film..., April 13, 2009

By 

Steve Kuehl "SLV Video" (Boulder Creek, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Caller (DVD)

A few noted reviewers here use the SASS abbreviation - and this would apply here in the forefront of all synopses for those that suffer from it. For me though, I watched this film from beginning to end without ever wanting to fast-forward, without ever wanting to see all that was being left out. Truly one of the only films this year that deserves the independent support but with a mainstream cast.

This will probably be one of the only bare bones DVDs that gets a 5 star from me, but the performances, quality and nuanced displays of professionalism make this a stand-alone art piece. The Amazon description actually gives away too much, so any more description would be moot for getting the full effect of what this has to offer. But maybe a small indulgence...

Two story lines intertwine about the character's lives in 1940s France and modern day New York City. One of a retired NYC detective playing the private eye, and another of a corporate cover-up man that grows a conscience and decides to end his life in the way he deems fit to make things right.

The music, camera angles, inter-spliced monotony of lifestyles, and mystery of storytelling all make for a minimalist piece that only a few will enjoy. I have read a plethora of complaints about being bored, nothing happening, and "I don't get it" whiners filling the ranks, so if you find yourself saying this when watching a good film, then skip this one.

I found no fault with the sound, picture or soundtrack - just a quality piece about memories, life and the events that can lead up to one's reckoning for the things done wrong in life. I related to the loss of one's self in this, and the film offers much to think about in making the choices we do as we get older. Hope you enjoy a great film.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tears and resolve, April 14, 2009

By 

Holly A. Dobbins "peacewalker" (Syracuse, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Caller (DVD)

This is the kind of film that you convince yourself you are just going to have on in the background while you do something else, until you slowly come the realization that you have absorbed every detail, heard every word, lived every moment, shared every note of the score ... with them. What began as cold and detached, has become warm, righteous and has taught you a lesson about how you want to live and the importance of the people in your life. Simple, bittersweet, truth.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A nice, overlooked film, April 25, 2009

By 

Coronet Blue (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Caller (DVD)

The Caller has a European feel to it in that it explores the little things in detail while leaving some big things unsaid. Its not a complicated story, nor is it the non-stop action film portrayed in the trailer but its distinctive and entertaining. Frank Langella is on the money. Four stars because Elliot Gould says his lines in such a way that you expect his eyeballs to move from side to side.