CRISIS HOTLINE: Riveting & Tragic LGBT Thriller Connects With Humanity

Writer-director Mark Schwab is able to manifest disheartening horrors that roam in the seemingly glossy haze of love: the horror of hideous debauchery and the penitence fostered by such devilish behavior. From the perspective of a cynical employee at an LGBT crisis hotline, Crisis Hotline manages to transition between modern-day with the employee, to the wretched past of the caller and how his suicidal intentions surfaced, in a surprisingly smooth fashion. It’s a thriller that exudes its empathy and suspense in gradual waves, making Schwab’s discomforting meditation on prurient bliss and profligacy by restricting its focus in order to evoke greater apprehension rendered by uncertainty and one’s imagination.

Simon (played by Corey Jackson) is a bushed and vexed employee at an LGBT crisis hotline company, cognizing the calls that he gets as delusive and immaterial. Simon claims how most of the calls that he gets are from LGBT members aren’t on the brink of expiry, and they’re just enduring discrimination. Simon acknowledges the deleterious effects of discrimination in the workplace, but Simon was anticipating to provide serious help for those on the margin of death. He’s frustrated and contemptuous, but everything changes once a phone call from Danny (played by Christian Gabriel) propels him to listen closely and employ the best methods to aid this troubled individual, who decides to tell his story of how he got to where he is — formulating the narrative structure around flashbacks and preserving a perspective that may or may not be wholly reliable.

Simon obtains help from Curtis (Mike Mizwicki), a fellow employee and rule-follower who tries to maintain a feasible outlook on Danny’s situation, but even for Curtis, this call isn’t going to be effortless. Danny begins explaining his relationship with a tempting man named Kyle (Pano Tsaklas), who convinced Danny — a reticent and guarded gay man with a tiny apartment and a monotonous tech job in Silicon Valley — he’s capable of love. Simon first perceives Danny’s anguish as impetuous, hoping Danny isn’t contemplating about taking his own life over some man who broke his heart, but it’s all about the context.

“You need context, Simon,” Danny perpetually tells Simon throughout the movie, and as Simon grows increasingly more terrified to where Danny’s truth may lie. The film unfolds in present-day with Simon, while also constantly shifting to Danny’s own story and how he got to this drastic point. Everything felt ethereal and authentic at the beginning of Danny and Kyle’s relationship, as they ventured on numerous cliched dates: the coffee date, the scary movie date, the hiking date and the spend time over dinner date. But their relationship comes to a sudden halt once the impulsive, forceful and secretive couple of Lance (August Browning) and Christian (Christopher Fung) arrive, determined to exude their reckless and unchaste comportment. Lance and Christian are the initial cause for Danny and Kyle’s debilitated connection, but it’s Kyle’s dirty little secret that proves to be the greatest betrayal of all.

Relationship Bliss Disconnected With Reality

Small-scale and prone to discomfort, Crisis Hotline is arranged in a tidy and complete manner, showcasing the beginning, middle and end of Danny and Kyle’s relationship. Schwab does this by taking viewers through a pernicious relationship between two men: radiating the fugacious euphoria of a new and steamy relationship, divulging a depraved secret that forces them to evaluate their relationship, only to trigger an utterly vile betrayal that reveals itself in a commendably slow and tactile method. Danny and Kyle’s relationship is bound to self-destruct because Danny is here, on the verge of suicide, using the hotline as a podium to speak his truth and to escape the fear of dying alone. He needs someone to hear why he did what he did.

As I said, the beginning of their relationship was ethereal. They went on multiple dates that appear like they originally exist in frothy rom-coms, but like love in itself, hardship is always foreseen. Thirty minutes in, Danny’s suicide transitions to a discussion of murder. From that point on, and focusing the lens on Danny’s past, the relations between Danny and Kyle are disrupted by Lance and Christian, two snide and frivolous characters who are Kyle’s only client. If that wasn’t suspicious enough, they do find relish in doing drugs and having licentious escapades. Weirdly, Kyle admits to being turned on when Lance and Christian have intercourse — using them as objects of voyeuristic rapture. Kyle, becoming recently inflamed, beguiles Danny into a more ribald affair (passionate kissing and touching). The lighting in this scene highlights the dexterity of cinematographer Dante Yore, who’s able to manipulate the darkness of the scene and cast a shadow of the two men, insinuating to a more unsavory future of their relationship — leaving a shadow of what once was, to now what is: a shell of their former selves, now plagued by harsh and lurid darkness.

Yore continues to depict Danny and Kyle’s relationship through a compelling series of close-up and static shots, upholding the intimacy between them while still trying to cast dubiety among the character of Danny, who, after learning what Lance and Christian do (they run a pornography network), Danny works to balance out his feelings for Kyle and for Kyle’s shifty tactics he utilizes to make sure Lance and Christian don’t get caught by the law. Danny’s caught under the spell of love and his feelings for Kyle, while Kyle is torn between Danny and the opulent lifestyle entitled to him, by none other than Lance and Christian. Danny and Kyle have proven they love each other, yet reality is more labyrinthine.

The reality is that Kyle is mired in Lance and Christian’s grasp, while Danny is susceptible to Kyle’s alluring presence because he has never wholly felt “love” in its delectable and excruciating form. Gabriel emulates the role of Danny through convincing face acting, but every now and again, lies a defect in the script that conveys Danny without a fleshed out disposition. Sometimes, more fire was needed in the delivery of the dialogue, and Gabriel and Tsaklas are generally the victims of such imperfections. But looking beyond those transient moments of piffling dialogue, emerges an execution keenly realized and tinkered with through a storytelling process that’s gradually unraveling the ill-starred relationship at the core and the sordid actions of Kyle.

Reality is complicated, and relationships have to be constructed around trust. Danny and Kyle’s relationship was doomed before it ever began. They got swept off their feet, into the ephemeral depth of love and the idea of being able to love somebody and having them love you back; it’s an exquisite sensation that not everybody can clutch or even maintain. Crisis Hotline operates in bleak and distressing territory as it sketches a punctilious picture of two men, who did enjoy each other’s company, who did care for each other, but veracity was something Kyle decided to deviate from for the sake of sustaining his corrupted lifestyle. Kyle was also too pusillanimous and petrified of the ramifications that may be evoked by telling the truth and disregarding Lance and Christian’s demands.

Did Simon Do His Best?

This is a rhetorical question if anything. I’m not expecting every viewer to agree, and I’m pretty sure Schwab doesn’t have a precise answer to it as well. The introduction to Simon kind of delineated him as a petulant and demoralized employee at a crisis hotline, seeking more self-fulfillment — in other words, he craves more life-threatening phone calls. Simon does get what he desires when Danny calls, and his particular story unfolds in grossly perturbing and shocking ways. Simon genuinely sympathizes with Danny, works incredibly hard to persuade him that killing others, or himself for that matter, won’t solve his problems.

Nothing untangling on-screen can be understood to its entire compacity. Discerning the “right” solution to a problem that feels out of one’s control, is never always thoroughly sketched out. To say Simon did all that he could, or what he failed to do, can only depend on the individual and how they view Simon and Curtis’ response to Danny’s call. The final lines of the movie say a lot about the cruciality of questioning our actions as defective human beings (minor spoiler): “Curtis, do you think we did our best? Really, was that our best?” “Just asking the question says more than a simple yes or no answer.”

Jackson plays the role fittingly, exhibiting his character’s empathy and self-realization in a technique that’s subdued and reposeful. Supporting character and resolute co-worker Curtis, is also a worthy addition to the small yet remarkably habile cast. The cast is engaged in their roles, and they want audiences to be as intensely enthralled as well. Despite covering weighty subject matter, such as pornography and rape, Crisis Hotline keeps you invested by using Simon and Curtis to outline the import of reacting and ruminating on instinct, but comprehending when you’ve done wrong.

We need to question everything we do and see in life because we aren’t perfect. Doubt is the slaking foundation of life that inspires frustration, yet we find our self-image and purpose in such grating incertitude. At one point, we will make the wrong decision and we will weather contrition, self-denial or self-loathing because of it. And by questioning their ability to assist Danny (and how it all turned out), unveils the insufferable verity of being human.

Crisis Hotline: A Noteworthy Thriller Connects With Being Human

Crisis Hotline succeeds in meaning as much as it does in suspense. This is a thriller with a mightily subtle pace and a frighteningly hypnotic atmosphere, laced with brimming sexuality and perfidy. It progresses the relationship between Danny and Kyle persuasively, rendering their transitory glee and inevitable agony in palpable leaps. Although predictable, the conclusion is shot artfully and harrowingly. Nothing excessively explicit is shown, and there’s no reason to display the iniquitous behavior — and since the ending defines itself around uncertainty and tragedy, the end result is mesmerizing.

Layered in nuance, every physical touch is felt, every facial expression is perceived, and every tear shed is further attestation of their own or the other’s betrayal. As upsetting as Crisis Hotline can be, it connects with humanity, and vividly portrays how we can’t always control the outcome or what other people do; in hindsight, you can only control yourself and how you personally tackle an emotional or physical venture.

What is your favorite slow burn thriller? What is your favorite LGBT-oriented film? Let us know in the comments!

Crisis Hotline arrives on digital and DVD on June 11th.