Hello In Here

NOW ON VOD! 21st-century existentialism shimmers like the aurora borealis over the impressive indie feature debut Hello In Here, written and directed by Casey McAdams. Kara (Chynna Walker) is on her own now that her boyfriend has walked out. She goes to work online in her kitchen as she is a project manager who oversees new and exciting projects.

Work is weird right now, as the whole world has gone crazy. She disinfects her groceries and listens to her mother (Annie Gill) complain about their inability to meet in person due to what is happening. She argues with a company whose services she had canceled over their keeping her account open and billing her further. She does drunken online karaoke and other online interactions but finds her friends are conflicted as they are all still friends with her ex.

“…Kara is furloughed from her job, setting her adrift day to day.”

Then Kara is furloughed from her job, setting her adrift day to day. She dithers away with a large puzzle and learning Portuguese. She keeps calling the company receptionist (Autumn Breaud) to see when work may start again. Then she has this dream that she is walking through a forest in a red dress and white gloves. She sees a little girl in pigtails with no face who runs away from her. She chases the little girl through the forest until she arrives at a house where something horrible happens. Kara then wakes up in a world that unravels further and further minute by awful minute… 

French philosophers Camus and Sartre both delved into the possibility that life is fundamentally meaningless. They are so lucky they never had to participate in a Zoom meeting. On his first time out, McAdams delivers a deep rumination over the daily existential crisis of the new century. While digital advances allow more communication, they come with fewer personal interactions, with everyone walking through everyday galleries of ghosts. Also, with the bypassing of interacting in person at a fixed time and place, people are now deluding with more communications from others than ever before.