Title: 226-1690
Authors: Rogers, Richard P.,; Richard P. Rogers Film Collection (Harvard Film Archive)
Year: 1984
Subjects: Telephone answering and recording apparatus.; Fathers and sons; Telephone; Man-woman relationships; Teachers; Camera operators.; Long distance telephone service.; Manhattan (New York, N.Y.) Social life and customs.
Abstract: Made in 1984, in the pre-voicemail era, director Richard Rogers' experimental documentary takes us inside his New York City neighborhood and his circle of friends and family. By letting us listen to the messages left on his answering machine over the course of a year, we become immersed in the day to day rhythms of the filmmaker's life. Through Rogers' New York apartment windows, while the messages accumulate, we see weddings and communions take place in the church across the street, passersby struggle through the snow on the sidewalk while we gradually succumb to the meditative rhythms of Rogers’ interior world. Rogers' father calls to say that he is recovering from a stroke and wants to know why Rogers forgot his birthday. A friend whose husband has been killed in Managua calls to share her grief. As the film progresses, the messages on the answering machine become more insistent, leaving the impression that Rogers is no longer in touch. One woman calls to say that Rogers is being a macho pig, another reminds him that it is time for him to retrieve his clothes from her apartment, another wants to meet for dinner. Outside Rogers' window, boys are setting off firecrackers on the street and the twin towers can be seen jutting over the tops of the surrounding tenements.