Listen

There were a lot of erotic (or wanted to be) thrillers on cable back in the 90s. The early 2000s trended almost specifically towards softcore with mild thriller/detective elements. “Listen” (1996) is this interesting concoction of serial killer mystery, phone sex voyeurism, lesbian angst, and love triangle melodrama. It has some talented actresses that really never launched into stardom despite potential. Brook Langton might be familiar to some mainstream audiences for her work in the football comedy, “The Replacements” (2000), with high profile names like Gene Hackman and Keanu Reeves, as a cheerleader and on the short-lived television version of the Sandra Bullock thriller, The Net. Most notably of the cult soap, Sunset Beach, Sarah Buxton never quite reached the heights she was more than capable of. But soaps provided Buxton work after this film and that’s all that matters. I personally think she’s very good in “Listen”. The film will not be available for you to just go and find it.

Films like this were on cable all the time during the 90s so that window to see something like this has narrowed significantly. I actually found this recorded on a VHS which helped when it resurfaced in my brain as movies often do for whatever reason during downtime. My interest in it was particularly held by its love triangle due to how the film presents it…Buxton yearns for Langton while Langton has decided she’d prefer a man played by Gordon Currie. The film opens with Buxton somber and deep in thought. Her face and countenance are clearly aching and desiring what appears to be unrequited. The film takes us into just why she is somber. Now friends after a split that once had Langton and Buxton lovers, they speak and hang out like besties while this obvious sexual tension remains. Langton seems okay with their current status while Buxton wants more romantically. Currie is the monkey wrench Buxton wants pulled from the works and tossed out of the way. To do that Currie will need to be visualized as not fit for Langton.

I personally found “phone seduction” quite an alluring concept in my late teens/early 20s. The idea that two people, who don’t know each other, share a conversation that includes sexual innuendo and any number of seductive scenarios, sharing openly and completely right from their deepest fantasies. What has always been a desire--a favored peccadillo posited from the hidden places few if any know about—kept locked away inside is deposited across the phone with another who could very well never meet him/her. Add to that someone else listening to this conversation, I was quite aroused by that inclusion for which “Listen” pursues. In fact, “Listen” has Langton, not someone who had ever done so in the past, picking up a conversation accidentally through an error in her connection, and finding herself turned on by what she hears. There is Langton on her bed, writhing and overwhelmed, the covers/sheets wrinkling as her body moves about without coercion. Eventually her hand moves down her stomach, her skin, towards her happy place…of course the film has her in a gown, bra and panties. It does sound like something you’d see in softcore the early 2000s when new films and series were ever present.

Buxton puts up as good a front as she can. When Langton puts her coffee mug down on a desk, Buxton casually, carefully picks it up, eyes the left behind lipstick and touches her delicious full lips up against the impression! Just to touch the lipstick left by Langston, this is proof of Buxton’s yearning. During a sleepover, Langton is asleep on Buxton’s couch. Buxton lustfully gazes at her, crawling cat-like over to Langton. Taking the chance, no longer capable of just caging away her desire, Buxton seizes upon a vulnerable Langton, kissing her cautiously. The kiss is actually reciprocated until Langton “comes to her senses” and pushes the opportunistic Buxton away. I found this especially intriguing back when I was much younger. I asked myself what it was that Langston really wanted. Was Currie the “appropriate” choice and Buxton the “desired” choice with this duality of sexuality lollipopping Langton? Langton doesn’t just shoo away Buxton immediately, discharging her with a vitriolic ruler-to-the-hand scolding for an attempt to take sexual advantage. Langton *kisses back*. I thought, with how Langton performs it, that for a few seconds her character allowed herself to give in to what she truly wants. This makes the eventual stop that deters the advance all the more painful for Buxton. She seems to be making headway and Langton isn’t willing to just let go. The film does hint with this scene that something still exists, though. It is obvious Langton has some conflict.

Currie has issues of his own. The candles are out, the wine spills into Langton’s athletically chiseled stomach, and the soft camera lights it all so dreamlike. It is all set up just perfectly for Currie. He pulls away her panties and appears to be on his way to penetration. She’s all in the mood and offers him free access. Again, this is his night. He fails. Something doesn’t work. His impotence certainly creates a crack in what seems to be a solid foundation for a relationship that could last…but would it even if the sex life was healthy? I think the film lives for this conflict. Langton truly knows for whom she truly belongs but is willy-nilly about that…instead she gives herself over to someone that perhaps couldn’t possibly perform to her specifications.

Part of the allure is obviously Langton. Her scene with the phone is shot to capitalize on her entire figure. Her legs fold out from her robe as it slits open, as her lips and face gradually glisten sweat, and her belt unfurls as the panties get rid of anything that might hide the lower torso. The zesty performance with her legs moving about, her neck tilting her head off-kilter and all that lust just bottoming out resulting in masturbation, Langton is allowed the safe route towards showing enough but not everything. But the situation might just be erotic enough: Langton is alone, on a bed, and listening to something she shouldn’t be. The naughtiness of it; oh, well, the internet allows us all to be as naughty we want, right? What the scene does is let us be a voyeur. Langton is listening to something she shouldn’t be and we are witnesses to her reactions. The editing and way the camera treasures every part of her body not covered goes for a full effect. Here is this very desirable woman overcome with what the pleasures of being naughty provide.

She’s worth fighting for. There’s some irony in the film, too. With how delectable Langton is, Currie seems unable to remain erect and achieve / maintain passion when between her legs. Buxton, who has been more than likely between her legs, wants that chance again. Meanwhile ladies who have been phone sexing are falling prey to a killer…which the film coordinates to Langton, Currie, and Buxton. As usual with love triangles, there is a loser who must exit the picture. The serial killer plot might just be the catalyst in which way the triangle teeters.

The film was edging towards Langton and Buxton. When Buxton kisses Langton, it goes for just a little while until it is halted. Buxton asks Langton does she know what she really wants. Love is love whether it is man to man, woman to man, or woman to woman. Then Buxton asks Langton if she still loves her. Langton says she does and they are about to embrace again when that pesky phone interrupts. The film does that. Eventually that “yes, this is what I want” kiss comes and there’s a smile shared that ultimately corals Langton into the relationship she seems to belong. But what about that killer who might be living in the same apartment complex as Langton? It might be closer to home than she thinks…

Naughty women getting cut by a maniac is a slasher plot intrusion "Listen" kind of takes here and there with little care. It cares more about Langton, her resistance towards what she really wants, the breaking down of that stronghold thanks to her attraction to Buxton and vice versa, and Currie's sexual hangups. The serial killer plot doesn't just take a backseat...it is asked to ride in the trunk.

If you have never heard of this movie, it is no surprise. It wasn't exactly in the same league as the similar types that came before it. The direction is too scatterbrained to rein in its various plot elements which called to action a narrative voice at the end to explain everything.

There's Langton and the plot which attracts people and possible danger to her. She can't seem to get her guy aroused, pushes away a woman that loves her, listens in on conversations that don't involve her, has pangs of desire that overwhelm her when naughty talk strikes a chord, and lives near a killer. Buxton, who has pursued her and seems to have won, could very well have a secret far more concerning than listening. All the same, their kiss in the gay club seemed to indicate all will be well, as well as, their time together at the end. And Buxton's secret will be safe with her.