lavatch In the hands of a gifted writer like Armistead Maupin, this bizarre yarn is another engaging "tale of the City." Robin Williams is good as the genial and sensitive radio call-in host, who comes to believe a tragic story about a young boy in recovery from a vicious assault. But is there anything truthful about the story? As indicated in the film, "The Night Listener" draws upon medical science for a case of "factitious disorder." The psychological principle of cognitive dissonance describes a lie in which the individual has come to believe that it is real. In the case of this film, one character is clearly desperately seeking attention.In one of the most intriguing lines in the film, Williams's character Gabriel states on his talk show that "Donna and I are more alike than not." But the film portrays just the opposite in the caring, sensitive Gabriel, who is pitted against the monomaniacal Donna, as credibly performed by Toni Colette.The film is really about the war of wills between Gabriell, pursuing the truth about little Pete, and Donna's desperate attempt to keep her fictitious story alive. But there was an inherent dishonesty in the film's early scenes depicting little Pete, as played by actor Rory Culkin. The film was intentionally deceiving the audience down to the last detail of a town named Montgomery, Wisconsin (none exists) and the zip code on the letter received by Gabe (the wrong zip for Wisconsin).Some of the supporting roles, such as the mean-spirited residents of the small Wisconsin town, stretched credibility. And some of the dialogue seemed too pat and simplistic. Lines such as "Real isn't how you are made; it's the thing that happens to you" were weak arguments about the conflict of heredity versus environment.Still, this was a compelling film that raised the essential question about the "factitious disorder. " While this syndrome may not be prevalent to the degree that it is portrayed in the character of Donna, it may it may be more commonplace than we think.

Python Hyena The Night Listener (2006): Dir: Patrick Stettner / Cast: Robin Williams, Toni Collette, Rory Culkin, Sandra Oh, Bobby Cannavale: Well made thriller about understanding what we do not see or grasp. Robin Williams stars as a gay radio host who receives a book about the sexual abuse of a teenage male. Eventually they communicate by phone until Williams begins to question the existence of the boy thus sending him on a quest to discover hard facts. Director Patrick Stettner does a fine job at placing viewers in the same position as Williams wondering what truths lie beneath the phone conversations. Williams does a wonderful job as someone who just ended a relationship and consuming his time within this bizarre situation only to form doubts himself. Despite this he deals with it through radio where he can possibly isolate himself or limited interactions with people. Toni Collette plays a blind woman whom Williams believes is the boy's keeper. We are at odds with her just as Williams is. Rory Culkin appears as the teenager whose existence is questionable. Unfortunately Sandra Oh is given little to do, which is a waste given her wonderful work in Sideways. Occasionally creepy with elements of mystery the film is well made and leaves viewers guessing and sometimes a tad too confused. It regards trauma and the decision to move on with life. Score: 8 / 10

Leofwine_draca In which Robin Williams, playing a radio DJ, discovers that one of his listeners may not be who he appears to be. This is a creepy drama, extremely understated to the point of being slightly dull, which plays out its story – supposedly based on a true-life tale – with a strong psychological slant. Williams plays a man with his own personal demons, having recently split up with his boyfriend and asking questions about his own beliefs and existence. Into his life comes Toni Collette, a woman who's adopted a boy recently rescued from his child abusing parents.There isn't a great deal more to the story than that. This is effectively a mood piece, focusing throughout on the mystery of the situation and building up the drama as Williams attempts to uncover the truth about the boy's existence. Supporting roles in the story are given to Joe Morton (still instantly recognisable from his role as Miles Dyson in TERMINATOR 2) and Rory Culkin (Macauley's brother), but the brunt of the screen time is given over to Williams and Collette. Williams, once again playing a likable, damaged type of personality, provides a strong centrepiece for the movie and Collette is excellent as the adoptive mother, better than I've seen her in anything else. This quiet, subdued movie may not be one that sticks in the mind but I enjoyed it nonetheless for its quirkiness and atmosphere.

patrick powell The Night Listener is essentially quite straightforward: a study in obsession and loneliness. The two protagonists are almost mirror images of each other, one an ageing homosexual writer and the other an attention-seeking fantasist. It was billed, by some, as a thriller, and consequently criticised for not being very thrilling, not being very mysterious and, finally, not really having a story. Certainly, there is no resolution to 'the story' as such, but then whether of not the young boy existed is not relevant. What is relevant is that the storyteller, whose younger lover has left him, desperately wants there to be a boy, desperately wants to have a son. The other obsessive, a woman who apparently invents the boy to get attention, will do anything to keep the fiction going. The film plays trick a little viewer and I cannot make up my mind whether it does so fairly or not. So, for example, we are shown the fictional boy talking to the storyteller on the phone and then handing the receiver to the obsessive woman. So, it would seem, and do the film would have us believe, he really did exist. Yet he didn't: he really is just a vehicle for the obsessive to get the attention she craves. A final scene confirms it: at the end of the film she has moved to another town to start a new life, is no longer blind and the fictional boy in her life is no longer the victim of paedophile parents, but has lost a leg. Finally, of course, it doesn't matter whether or not the film plays fair. Its essence is to portray the private despair of an essentially decent man whom life is slowly but surely passing by. If you read other reviews, you will hear it claimed that The Night Listener is a cracking thriller or, alternatively, not worth a minute of the running time. Both views are wrong, but more to the point mistake, The Night Listener is a gentle film in which the storyteller finds some sort of peace, if only an acceptance that he is getting older and that life is not always as accommodating as we fondly wish. Furthermore, the film is beautifully shot in dark browns of different hues, in shadows, at night. Daylight and light generally play no part in the storyteller's world. Very little is distinct, and ironically the only real understanding and openness comes from two younger characters who are sceptical of the boys existence from the start. This is a slow-moving, in many ways uneventful film which succeeds because it doesn't pretend to be anything more than it is: an examination of obsession and loneliness. If you like a certain kind of film, you will like it. Williams is very good in portraying the storyteller's loneliness and Toni Collette also turns in a good performance. If you want a thriller, forget it. There is so much more to this film than that.