First Time Caller

James Darling’s drama, First Time Caller, gives us his take on the political and cultural battle that is being waged in the media and the internet from the perspective of one such internet sensation.

Brent Ziff (Abe Goldfarb) is an internet shock jock located in middle America — Denver, Colorado. His gimmick is to take caller conspiracies head-on with his liberal brand of pragmatism. I suppose his appeal is a no-nonsense approach to everything with an air of “let me tell you how it really is.” His callers are so obsessed with Ziff’s contrarian attitude and egotism that he believes he’s living “Brent-free” in their heads.

What appears to be a typical broadcast soon turns dark when long-time listener, first-time caller Leo “Shorty” Short (Brian Silliman), calls in. Leo is a bit of a constipated conspiracy nut, as he has recently learned to “breathe again.” Just before Brent is about to hang up on his nonsense, Shorty’s tone changes as he warns of an impending tsunami that’s about to overrun the right-wing music festival Freedom Seattle. Brent, of course, writes off Shorty’s warning and goes on to a few other callers (Greg Proops and Kevin Pollack). Minutes later, Shorty’s prophecy comes true, and the entire city of Seattle is underwater. Then Shorty begins predicting the next series of tsunamis hitting major coastal cities across the globe.

First Time Caller takes a bit of time to lock into its groove. Once it does, it becomes quite a ride. The film is essentially lead actor Abe Goldfarb sitting at a computer running an internet radio show on his lonesome. Huge credit to director Darling for keeping Ziff’s internet exploits interesting. By wisely using the lighting and cinematography, along with the underlining ominous soundtrack, the filmmaker turns a guy sitting at a desk into an exciting thriller.

“…an impending tsunami that’s about to overrun the right-wing music festival…”

What makes this phone call so exciting? It starts with what appears to be rumors of a global disaster and then soon becomes an actual one. With this “War of the Worlds”-like radio drama lingering in the background, the film focuses on Ziff and Shorty and questions whether Shorty is an astute observer or a global terrorist. How did Shorty know about the tsunami before the world’s scientists did? He claims that he tried to warn everyone but was quickly dismissed. Is this vindication or revenge? If you know me, I love a good conversation, and this has my interest piqued to the end.

Where the film suffers is in the first act, when it’s just Brent’s typical talk show. If you’re not a fan of shock jocks, their “I’m always right” attitude, or in some cases, their hyperpolitical stances (though Ziff is rarely political), it would be tempting to shut First Time Caller off early. I’d urge you to plow through until you get to Shorty’s call and judge the film from there. The other quibble is that sometimes the pace of their back-and-forth feels like a scripted play. The dialogue flies by quickly when in reality, there would be small verbal pauses for Ziff and Shorty to reflect on what the other said before continuing to speak.

That said, the performances of Goldfarb and Silliman are fantastic. Goldfarb clearly does most of the heavy lifting acting-wise. His face is onscreen throughout the entire film, and he keeps the story interesting and moving along. From Mac Rogers’ script, there’s a great deal of subtext in the central duo’s conversation that will satiate the conspiracy theorist and denier in us all. As the global crisis continues, filmmaker Darling taps into our anxiety and fears as society quickly shuts down in mere hours.

There is not a lot of glitz and glamour in First Time Caller. But its hard-edge conversation and broader questions about this very divided world are worth giving a chance.

For screening information for First Time Caller, visit the Cinedata website.