Film:  Mojave Phone Booth
Studio:  MPB Collective 
Director:  John Putch
Writers:  John Putch, Jerry Rapp
Principal Actors:  Annabeth Gish, Tinarie Van Wynk-Loots, Christine Elise, Robert Romanus, Steve Guttenberg 
Screening Date:  July 25, 2008, Kansas City Fringe Festival
Film length:  88 minutes
Rating:  unrated

http://www.mojavephonebooth.net/HOME.html

Reviewed By:  Deborah Ground Buckner (Kansas City Correspondent - USA) 

I have a passion for films that present diverse stories and then weave them together, showing the impact individuals can have on each other's lives.  It's a Wonderful Life is my favorite of this type, with last year's Midnight Clear another.  Mojave Phone Booth is an exciting story of interrelationships, but with a much darker tone and content.

The film was inspired by the true story of a telephone booth in the Mojave Desert.  When an Internet site posted the number on the telephone--set up to receive incoming calls--people from all over the world began calling the number or camping out near the booth waiting for the phone to ring.    

In the film, those who answer the telephone find the voice of Greta (Shani Wallis), a mysterious, calming voice that offers therapy over the lines, sometimes calling at pre-arranged times.  Four characters connect with Greta in different ways.  The constant of the telephone booth and the presence of seemingly miles and miles of recording tape stretched across the desert, blowing in the wind are the themes that bind these characters together.

Beth (Annabeth Gish) receives counseling about her love life from Greta.  She also ponders the tape she seems to see everywhere.  "Where does it come from?"  The cinematography by Keith J. Duggan is breathtaking, presenting the desert and Las Vegas with all the loneliness of an empty space and the bright lights that seem to attract the forgotten, restless people.  Through it all, bits of tape are blowing in the air, wrapped around cacti, fluttering down a street.

Mary (Tinarie Van Wynk-Loots) loses her job when she is caught stealing from the company coffee fund.  She turns to her friend, Rachel (Jacleen Haber) hoping to receive help and advice on entering a real estate sales career.  She soon learns Rachel's large, impressive home has been paid for by the proceeds of a different kind of work.  Mary is invited to join in a threesome and receive a share of $10,000-on the condition that the event can be videotaped.  When Mary turns to Greta it is more for comfort than advice. 

Alex (Christine Elise) seeks Greta's help in dealing with her partner, Glory.  Brilliantly played by Joy Gohring, Glory alternates between depression and hysterics and comes to believe it is the result of aliens infesting her body.  She meets Michael (David DeLuise) in a UFO chatroom.  Alex watches with disbelief as Glory is consumed by his con game of offering therapy listening to a tape of a "craft" to draw the aliens from her.  

Richard (Robert Romanus) is going through a divorce from his wife, Sarah (Missi Pyle).  He has documented nearly every moment of their marriage on videotape, and tries to produce a tape to prove to Sarah she was happy.  When events lead him to the desert alone and desperate, the phone rings, and Greta becomes a patient counselor.

Watching the characters' stories unfold, with secondary characters playing roles in more than one story, the meaning of the blowing scraps of tape becomes clear. 

In the process, the telephone booth is a station of friendship and comfort, and its removal near the end of the film-just as it has been removed from the desert in real life-brings a touch of sadness.  In a world where communication is always immediate but rarely intimate, the phone booth represented a necessary link to another time.