Love in the Time of Caller ID: Growing Pains in Story of the Beginning of a Family’s End

Love in the Time of Caller ID is the latest from Neil Sandhoefner in his signature style—his last short Silent Sirens was a moving confluence of image and sound on an elemental level. Caller ID takes a different approach, but themes of connection and communication remain in this story of two children experiencing a formative moment of growth. 

A poor, single mother with two children to provide for is a heavy job, and often corroding. Mom makes the best of bad situations—joins in on jokes when the only available ketchup is two years out of date, uses a blanket covered patio table to make up a nice place for the answering machine she has acquired, and then when a controlling man is their best chance out of poverty, she accepts what it costs her. 

Though it does not quite match Sirens, the writing makes the film worth revisiting as the children come to understand in their own way how parenthood works. Like the girl in the sci-fi film that the boys are watching figures out the truth about her father, Caller ID places the puzzle pieces of its own story in neat order and lets the viewer figure out why Mom has to miss the movie and why she cannot play along with them just yet. Chuck has invited her for the night. Chuck works a difficult job. Chuck needs to relax. That list will never run out. It will always produce a home of prohibitions. 

It is a poignant moment that the first time we hear a diegetic voice in an otherwise wordless soundscape, it is to show off the boys’ prowess with their new answering machine, only to be followed by words that veil sorrow and enforce distance. The excitement in the voicemail greeting has gone cold by then. The patio table must do without its blanket to keep the lonely boys warm.

Like the girl in the movie, the boys are about to spend years trying and failing to reach their mother. Perhaps like the girl, they will finally find connection to their only family in adulthood. One always hopes. 

Watch Love in the Time of Caller ID Short Film