‘The Caller’ Review: A Minimalist Thriller With Elevated Drama and Tension

As streaming giants compete for the attention of Kenyan viewers with an endless supply of foreign and local films and TV shows, financing and distributing both original and acquired media to add to their growing slate of Kenyan productions, one can easily forget how households used to consume entertainment a few years ago. Multichoice, who built their reputation on their satellite setboxes, hasn’t completely ignored the many who find streaming too expensive or cumbersome, setting aside channels to showcase network shows and movies like Maisha Magic Movies. The channel’s latest film, The Caller, sees them collaborate with Kibanda Pictures, the production company behind Showmax’s political thriller County 49.

Penned by Brian Munene and directed by Likarion Wainaina (Supa Modo), The Caller is a minimalist thriller predominantly focused on real-time happenings when a morning on radio takes every conceivable wrong turn. The first act finds Koki, a radio host, balancing family strife, regulatory scrutiny, and work wrangles all in the few minutes before kicking off her show. While on air, everything turns on its head when a caller she ignores turns out to be a mentally unstable soldier reeling with unabated rage instigated by her earlier episode. Paced to bounce between intervals of his calls and the chaos that ensue, The Caller attempts and, for the most part, excels at building a nerve-wracking narrative while being locked to the same four walls for the majority of the run time.

At the heart of The Caller, Nice Githinji takes on her first lead role as Koki and brings with it every tool in her acting arsenal to steer the emotional core of the story. She moves from her reserved celebrity arrogance that has her pitting horns with her coworkers and husband, into an indecisive and dependent pawn playing into the hands of the menacing antagonist, and finally settling into a vulnerable and exhausted state that has her delivering touching monologues on heartbreaks and her character’s shortcomings. For a narrative that required the camera glued to her face for every scene, Githinji delivers where it matters most, and her supporting cast of Joe Kinyua and Brenda Mwai never miss their marks either.

With Likarion behind the camera, and as director, The Caller finds grace and style that are very unique despite its limited range of set locations. Every shot in the radio station feels well placed, every camera action intentional, and every movement choreographed to build on the tension the film so heavily relies on. There is one shot in particular that I found unnecessary yet very crucial to the mood of the film. This shot has the camera encircling our main protagonist in her moment of dejection, crafted to seemingly morph with her attentive listeners, tying them to her turmoils. Instances like this elevate what could have easily been passable moments into scenes worth a second look and show exactly why Likarion continues to be one of our best directors.

With a premise ripe with drama, The Caller rises to meet it toe for toe, building the main character with her own set of distractions, both personal and professional, and shining light on the prevalent cases of mental health among our servicemen and women. The first half is near perfect, and the twists and turns are plentiful, playing directly to the tunes that the radio shows that inspired the film have become famous for. However, The Caller struggles to find a stride when trying to bring reality into a narrative built behind real-time phone calls and radio shows. Scenes of the listeners of the show offer nothing more than facial commentary, which becomes distracting at times. And attempts to calm the antagonist throughout the film come off as gearing to grow the tension at the expense of properly fleshing him out. Still, one can’t feel that the quality of the acting, the story, and the production is elevated enough for its audience. All things considered, The Caller is the kind of movie one would be extremely delighted to find as they skim through their setbox channels—a movie with all the right technical ingredients and an easily digestible plot worth every minute of a casual evening. One I hope I run into again in the future.