Night Listener Early Review

We were invited to an early screening of the Night Listener. So we interviewed the very talented Robin Williams and then saw his film. In Night Listener Patrick Stettner‘s second feature film is based on Armistead Maupin‘s best-selling novel, "The Night Listener". At the centre of events is a novelist, Gabriel Noone, who reads his stories on a night-time radio show. His nocturnal readings are followed avidly by his devoted listeners. One of his fans, Pete, has taken to calling Gabriel at night. Feeling jaded by his own life, his artistic future and the nightly radio broadcasts, the novelist becomes fascinated by his conversations with the young lad.

What is it that draws him to this boy? Is it the wisdom he displays beyond his years? His lonely and seldom happy childhood? Or is it the boy‘s step-mother, whose boyfriend has just left her? The more Gabriel talks to Pete and the more intense their nocturnal conversations become, the more the writer becomes engrossed by the boy‘s fate. Before long the boy‘s experiences take such a hold on Gabriel‘s imagination that it becomes too much to bear. Gabriel Noone sets off on a journey. He has no idea where his expedition will lead him.

Maupin‘s novel is based on the memoirs of a 14-year-old boy who sent this popular novelist his manuscript in 1992. What Maupin read was nothing short of an account of someone who had apparently survived all possible horrors. The boy had taken up writing when asked by his therapist to commit his nightmares to paper. Maupin: "His memories were unbelievable. It was like reading Anne Frank‘s diary." Read Sheila's Night Listener Movie Review