New York journalist Anna (Patricia Charbonneau) is in a passionless relationship with her boyfriend Alex (Sam Freed). One day, while in her apartment, she receives an indecent phone-call from a mysterious person and she attributes the voice of the stranger to Alex, in her hope that he is trying to spice up their relationship with unorthodox methods. The caller asks Anna for a meeting at a local bar and she complies, still convinced, that Alex would be the one waiting for her there. As one can guess, things don't go as planned and Anna ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Not only is Alex not at the bar, but during a visit to the ladies' room, she involuntarily overhears and partly sees a murder in the next door stall. For a quick second during the brutal attack next door, Anna watches through the hole between the stalls as a police badge falls to the floor and is quickly picked up by the killer. Petrified and shocked, Anna remains hidden in her stall, until she is sure the attacker has left. Knowing the killer is a cop, Anna refuses to go to the police and report what has happened, so she promptly exits the bar and goes home, but on her way out is noticed by the thug Jellybean (Stephen McHattie). Soon, Anna finds herself in the crosshairs of some very shady people. Meanwhile, she is convinced the mysterious caller is somehow connected to the events at the bar. And what is stranger still, the obscene calls at her home continue after the murder and while initially determined to dismiss the incessant caller, Anna gradually starts to feel an unexplainable attraction to him...
While "Call Me" cannot quite make up its' mind, if it wants to be an erotic thriller or a crime/action thriller, I found the film to be weirdly entrancing, especially during the increasingly uncomfortable, but also arousing at times dialogue between Anna and her unknown caller, which culminates in a tense but exciting scene, where she is dared to use an orange to pleasure herself. The way the scene is shot thankfully never crosses the line into vulgar tastelessness and in fact the nudity in the film is quite timid, considering the genre the filmmakers were probably going for, but it more than compensates with some truly gutsy lines of dialogue, which would be surely deemed too hot for TV. Patricia Charbonneau's strong performance carries much of the movie's weight, not only during the mentioned more risque sequences (which she nails with steel conviction), but in other instances too. There is a very memorable scene, where she spots the thug Jellybean following her in his car and instead of running away, she decides to confront him and even does a nifty trick on him, that renders his pursuit futile. In another fun scene, in a fit of rage over being lied to by a man she has been intimate with, Anna forcefully pushes a home aquarium on top of the guy as it crashes in a mini-tsunami of water, glass and flying fish. Clearly a character that stands her ground, which makes her all the more likeable. Too bad she cannot catch a break, as everyone seems to want a piece of her - a sadistic knife-wielding gangster (Steve Buscemi) and a corrupt cop want her dead, the (seemingly) shy friend of a friend is trying to woo her, her boss makes inappropriate comments and the unknown caller lusts for her.
I liked the third act too, even though it felt a bit rushed and patched from another type of movie. The violent and gritty climax of the last 10-15 minutes clash with the more sensual and romantic middle part, but in this case I appreciated the contrast, as it was refreshing and the final scenes even held some small surprises for some side characters' arks.
As a whole, while its' narrative structure is definitely more on the messy side, I found "Call Me" to be a fascinating film with plenty of memorable sequences and a strong female lead performance. For a B-Movie thriller it is quite engaging and absolutely worth a watch.
While "Call Me" cannot quite make up its' mind, if it wants to be an erotic thriller or a crime/action thriller, I found the film to be weirdly entrancing, especially during the increasingly uncomfortable, but also arousing at times dialogue between Anna and her unknown caller, which culminates in a tense but exciting scene, where she is dared to use an orange to pleasure herself. The way the scene is shot thankfully never crosses the line into vulgar tastelessness and in fact the nudity in the film is quite timid, considering the genre the filmmakers were probably going for, but it more than compensates with some truly gutsy lines of dialogue, which would be surely deemed too hot for TV. Patricia Charbonneau's strong performance carries much of the movie's weight, not only during the mentioned more risque sequences (which she nails with steel conviction), but in other instances too. There is a very memorable scene, where she spots the thug Jellybean following her in his car and instead of running away, she decides to confront him and even does a nifty trick on him, that renders his pursuit futile. In another fun scene, in a fit of rage over being lied to by a man she has been intimate with, Anna forcefully pushes a home aquarium on top of the guy as it crashes in a mini-tsunami of water, glass and flying fish. Clearly a character that stands her ground, which makes her all the more likeable. Too bad she cannot catch a break, as everyone seems to want a piece of her - a sadistic knife-wielding gangster (Steve Buscemi) and a corrupt cop want her dead, the (seemingly) shy friend of a friend is trying to woo her, her boss makes inappropriate comments and the unknown caller lusts for her.
I liked the third act too, even though it felt a bit rushed and patched from another type of movie. The violent and gritty climax of the last 10-15 minutes clash with the more sensual and romantic middle part, but in this case I appreciated the contrast, as it was refreshing and the final scenes even held some small surprises for some side characters' arks.
As a whole, while its' narrative structure is definitely more on the messy side, I found "Call Me" to be a fascinating film with plenty of memorable sequences and a strong female lead performance. For a B-Movie thriller it is quite engaging and absolutely worth a watch.