Operator (2016)

A independent romantic comedy based around modern technology…

Starring: Martin Starr, Mae Whitman, Nat Faxon, Retta, Christine Lahti Directed by: Logan Kibens

Independent cinema is always something for film buffs like me to marvel at. As a film critic, the independent scene can offer films that are more original and less formulaic than the Disney live-action remakes and franchise films that dominate the worldwide box office every year, not that I’m completely against that. One genre that independent filmmaking seems to thrive on is the romance genre. In recent years, this genre has produced the likes of (500) Days of Summer (2009), Blue Valentine (2011), Ruby Sparks (2012) and The Big Sick (2017), each film offering a alternative to the classic romantic movie formula. Another recent offering to add into this bracket is Operator, released in 2016.

Operator is a romantic comedy-drama released in November 2016. The film was the first to be produced by independent production company June Pictures. The company had been founded by Alex Saks and Andrew Duncan in February 2016. The film was distributed by The Orchard, a subsidiary company of Sony Pictures that had also been behind Taiki Waititi’s acclaimed horror-comedy mockumentary What We Do In The Shadows in 2015. Operator saw the directorial debut of Logan Kibens, whose previous work had come in producing short films. Along with directing the film, Kibens would act as editor and co-produce and co-write Operator along with Steven Cruze and Sharon Greene respectively. The film’s cinematographer was Steeven Pettiteville, a Frenchman who had previously worked as a camera assistant on Babel, Marie Antoinette, The Da Vinci Code and The Pink Panther. His work as a cinematographer had come in French and independent cinema in Low Cost, Behold The Lamb (both 2011) and The Return of Mike and Ike (2015).

The focus of Operator‘s plot is a young married couple living in Chicago. Joe (played by Martin Starr) is a programmer at a technology company whose life is quantified by a series of charts and graphs. Joe and his team have been working on an interactive operating system for a call centre but are in need of a suitable voice that evokes empathy for potential customers. Joe soon suggests his wife Emily for the role. Emily (played by Mae Whitman) works as a concierge for an upmarket hotel, spending her days dealing with customer complaints while spending her nights working as part of an improvisational comedy troupe. After previewing his wife’s voice for his team, Emily is made the voice of the new operating system.

Despite the exciting promise of Joe and Emily working together, the couple’s relationship soon becomes strained as Emily increasingly finds her time split between her hotel work, recording sessions for the operating system and working shows with the improv troupe at night. With his time with Emily becoming increasingly limited, the anxiety-stricken Joe soon begins to find solace in the operating system he is currently programming, an operating system now called ‘Emily’ that features the voice of his own wife. Meanwhile, the real Emily has been tasked with incorporating real-life incidents from her relationship with Joe into her improv shows. Including such incidents in her act would break a promise that she had given to Joe to never discuss their personal life in a public sphere.

Operator is a brilliant entry in the romantic comedy-drama genre. It combines an interesting albeit not entirely original story, two well-written and engaging three-dimensional lead characters, an excellent script and brilliant direction from debutant Logan Kibens. Leads Martin Starr and Mae Whitman have excellent chemistry as young married couple Joe and Emily. The restrained, anxious and frank introvert Joe is easily balanced out by the kind, confident, outgoing and empathetic extrovert Emily. On a number of occasions, Emily is able to soothe Joe’s anxieties with her calming presence, something that led Joe to originally recommend Emily for the voice of the operating system. However, once Emily begins spending more time with the improv troupe and her time with Joe is restricted to voice recording sessions for said operating system, Joe soon begins to find a surrogate for Emily in pre-recorded version of her own voice, which Joe is able to programme to replicate the effect of the real thing.

Martin Starr delivers a brilliantly restrained performance as Joe. His performance may sometimes come across as unemotional, but this is a character who defines his life by a series of charts and graphs. At the beginning of each day, Joe goes on a run in the morning. Each day, he passes the same two men fishing before stopping at the same point on the banks on the Chicago River to take a photo of the morning sun rising. This serves to exemplify the analytical way that Joe chooses to live his life.

Above all the great elements that this film possesses, the one thing that elevates Operator to another level is the performance of Mae Whitman. If you have been wondering where the former child star of One Fine Day and Independence Day has been these past few years, aside from a leading role in 2015’s The DUFF, she has been spending her career delivering brilliant performances in independent films such as this. As Emily, Whitman is simply fantastic. She moves from being kind, attentive and empathetic as the voice of the OS and in her interactions with Joe before becoming confident and funny as a member of the improv troupe performing shows on a weekly basis.

As Emily soon finds herself drawn between three different roles, we see this represented in Whitman’s portrayal as her initial bright and cheerful demeanour soon becomes more subdued as the mental strain starts to take its toll. In the film’s final act, Whitman goes into overdrive, delivering such a passionate and emotional performance that this critic believes could have earned some kind of awards notice if this film had been given a more prominent release. When the couple find out the truth about what each party has been doing behind the other’s back, the result is positively heart-breaking and you, as a viewer, find yourself craving a happy ending to this film that may or may not arrive at the end of the 91 minute running time.

The film premiered at the 2016 SXSW Film Festival in March 2016 and was subsequently released in cinemas in November of the same year. The film currently holds a 100% critic rating at Rotten Tomatoes, but this percentage is taken from 6 reviews due to the film’s low-key release. The film’s themes and plot draw parallels with 2012’s Ruby Sparks and 2013’s Her. If those films are up your alley, than this film will be for you.

So if you are tired of the romantic comedies and dramas produced by mainstream Hollywood, then you may just find a new date-night favourite in Operator, a hidden gem of the genre that is sure to please.