Anatomy of a Call

Director Arnold TAM Jing Wah incisively deconstructs modern life in his work Anatomy of a Call: from a producer exhausted by demanding clients, to a sales person repeatedly facing rejection, to an aging mother seeking help from her son—all seem trapped in an endless cycle of useless calls without any resolution.

The short film, laced with dark humor, sharply captures individuals confined within the concrete jungle represented by Hong Kong, linking multiple parallel spaces through the medium of the phone. The three long takes interlock seamlessly, adopting an observer’s perspective to crisply unravel the frenzy, anxiety, and absurdity saturating the air of modern society. The film lays bare how information overload limits the space for existence, and the loneliness and struggles of ordinary people will eventually become the footnotes of this era.

– ZHANG Xuliang