“The Phone Box”: Don’t go to a difficult situation, just to regret the wasted years

A small and closed environment, several roles, and simple scene scheduling. Making a movie in a phone booth requires a huge test of the script and director’s skills. Speaking of phone booths, most people probably think back to the 2002 “Phone Booth” by Joe Schumacher. The plot twists and turns, the suspenseful temperament and the director’s strong rhythm control make it a classic. But there is a 1972 “The Phone Box” which is also a classic, but not many people have seen it. Although Douban scored 8.3, only 6267 people commented. This movie is different from the excitement of “Phone Booth”, it gives people a sense of contemplation and extreme horror in peace.

The plot of the story is very simple. It tells the story of a man who was trapped in a phone booth on the phone. At the beginning of the movie, four workers in dark green clothes placed the phone booth in the center of the square, and when a man was about to make a call, the door of the red phone booth was slowly closed, like a flytrap tightening a trap. At this moment, the phone booth seemed to be a living creature, devouring its prey, and being slowly digested. It can be seen from the actor’s reaction that the phone booth is fake and there is no sound in the phone. Then people passing by began to gather and began to watch. Onlookers also had several “challengers” who tried to open the phone booths, but failed. The surrounding was full of laughter from the onlookers, as if performing a performance art, or a show Funny sitcoms, with cheers from whistles from time to time.

The man was transported away. On the road, the man thought he would be rescued, but saw another same truck with another person in the same phone booth. Finally, the man was sent to a remote warehouse, followed by the unloading, into the conveyor belt. The man was horrified to find that there were exactly the same phone booths around, but there were tired bones inside. The man struggled, crying and flapping were buried in the roar of the machine, and finally everything was calm. The man and the phone booth were silently shut down forever. In the corner.

As the picture turned, a new phone booth was re-installed in the center of the square, waiting for the next victim…

The plot of “The Phone Box” advances flat and straightforward, but the shots have been changed many times, especially at the beginning of a few shots at a high place, giving people a feeling of peeping at the whole thing happening on the building, with the brisk music, let the audience Thinking it was a humorous sitcom, the workers installed the phone booth and used quick cuts to reflect the professionalism and cleanliness of the workers. Before leaving, the worker half-opened the phone booth door, seeming to deliberately lure poor people into it. The four workers could not see the expressions on their faces, and were as capable and precise as a robot. The film uses close-ups to show the helplessness of the detained man, the horror and the shame of being ridiculed, the ridicule of passers-by, the indifference and the irrelevant gloating of misfortune. At the same time, the entire telephone booth is shown in the middle and close shots. Increased the sense of substitution, as if he was also a member of the bystander.

The music is interspersed with symphony and clarinet solo from time to time, mainly to match the mood swings of the man locked in the phone booth. The clarinet showed the man’s initial confusion and nervousness. Suspense with a bit of mischievous melody and a bit of “cat and mouse” feeling, once thought it was a comedy. Until the middle was carried away, the excitement and anger of the unsaved man was replaced by symphony, and finally the desperation and horror of finding that he was plunged into death, it turned out to be a chorus of female masses. Especially in the end, as the conveyor belt slowly discovered the skeletons in other phone booths, the music stunned the man in the phone booth and the audience who saw it, instantly raising the sense of horror to the extreme.

This film was directed by Spanish director Antonio Mercerro in 1972 for the Spanish TV station, which won the International Emmy Award for Best Short Film. Some people say that this is a movie full of political metaphors. Perhaps, in 1972 before the end of the Cold War, the red phone booth seemed to represent something. But “The Phone Box” this 34-minute movie wants to express a lot more.

For example, the film has repeatedly hinted that this phone booth is not the first time it has been placed here. For example, before the end, from the perspective of the protagonist, I saw many phone booths, and the people inside have become bones. I am afraid that it has been there for a few years. . I don’t know how many phone booths there are in a few years.

But judging from the performance of the people around, it seems that the first time I saw this “dumb hat” locked in a phone booth, including police and firefighters. In addition, when the four workers moved out of the phone booth, no one expressed suspicion and blocked them. The four people carried away the phone booth without saying a word. Even the police didn’t say anything, feeling a little abnormal. Some people even tell men that workers will get you out.

The movie “Telephone Booth” actually hints at people’s anxiety about the “middle-age crisis” in middle age. Men are trapped in their cages, but they keep organizing their own “Mediterranean” and helping men get out of trouble. It is a middle-aged person, facing the plight of men, there is no way, the phone booth that appeared at last also hinted that they will also enter the plight after all. There are three scenes where the car stops in the second half;

Outside the first phone booth was someone else’s funeral. The man saw his death in the phone booth.

Outside the second phone booth is the kindergarten, playing games carefree, reminding him of the beginning of life. He was then blocked by a bald man in another phone booth. Implied the reality at hand.

The third paragraph is another bald man with a clown face, playing with the child. At this time, the protagonist shows a look forward to his child, which reminds him of his child, but helplessly, the big truck of life is constantly carrying He walked toward death, the man lowered his head and fell silently into memories and helplessness…

These three paragraphs reminded me of myself. When I was 30 years old, I couldn’t help but start thinking about death, remembering the past, and finally seeking a way out.

This surrealist movie actually shows the fragility of a middle-aged man in the second half of his life. When a man walks into his middle age, he will inevitably usher in a life that repeats itself into a cycle every day, as if he enters the phone booth like in a movie. They can only watch each other’s birth, old age, sickness and death, and watch others rejoice, sorrow and reunite. There seems to be no change in life, I will quietly miss my past in the second half of my life, and then slowly wait for death in my own small space.

The phone booth symbolizes the powerless plight of life, and to some extent, it also symbolizes death. When locked in the phone booth, will you regret that you have not done anything?

“Has the original wish come true? Is it a memorial service now?”

Are you thinking, if I do it again, what should I do? People outside the “phone booth” think they can’t do anything. But I was really caught in a predicament, and in fact felt that I was actually very unwilling. This is what makes this movie extremely scary. Too many people have said that they wanted to do it, but it was too late. But if he is locked into this phone booth, I am afraid he will find that everything is not too late, and he can do anything if he gets out.

Everyone knows the story of Gauguin, this man who left all his heart in painting at the age of 40 and finally became a master of generation. This is not to encourage everyone to leave everything behind like him, just to say that there are too many things you want to do before you die. As long as you start, you will start everywhere.

If you only have the last year left in your life, what do you want to do?