SHE’S NOT THE ONLY ONE LISTENING.
Agoraphobic tech worker Angela Childs (Zoë Kravitz), who’s been isolated in her home throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, monitors data streams from systems using a sophisticated smart speaker; one day, she picks up something she shouldn’t have heard. There are echoes of Blow Out (1981) and other surveillance thrillers in this surprisingly exciting collaboration between seasoned writer David Koepp and Steven Soderbergh, a filmmaker who has remained creative. The movie delivers thrills and a sense of humor, particularly evident in the final showdown. Also effective as a comment on the pandemic, with a convincing turn by Kravitz.
2022-U.S. VOD. 89 min. Color. Produced by David Koepp, Michael Polaire. Directed, photographed and edited by Steven Soderbergh. Screenplay: David Koepp. Music: Cliff Martinez. Cast: Zoë Kravitz (Angela Childs), Rita Wilson (Natalie Chowdhury), India de Beaufort (Sharon), Emily Kuroda, Byron Bowers, Alex Dobrenko… Robin Givens.
Trivia: Betsy Brantley, who was once married to Soderbergh, provides the voice of Kimi, the smart speaker.
Last word: “It was one of these weird things, the premise that David pitched me was pre-COVID. And the story works without it, but it turns out to work even better with it, but we kind of inherited that without asking, and what I liked about it was, for most of us, the lockdown was a real psychological struggle. For Angela, [she] couldn’t ask for a better excuse to not leave the house. Like she’s one of the few people in that city that’s totally fine with never leaving her apartment. So it turned out just to be this weird collision of the idea and the real world, and it enhanced it, fortunately.” (Soderbergh, Collider)
