Celebrity quarantine videos have ranged from the fantastic to the pandering. But Helena Bonham Carter and Sam Neill’s Das Fone Hell (a “Cinema Quarantino Production”) is by far the most relatable.
Neill shared the short film (which we can imagine making the rounds at the next Sundance) with his Twitter followers on Saturday, detailing its vast budget and sprawling production across two continents. What resulted from their efforts is two minutes of pure quarantine madness with an evocative meditation on the ills of digital life.
HELENA BONHAM CARTER stars in this groundbreaking Cinema Quarantino Production DAS FONE HELL. At vast expense, filmed on two continents over what (seemed like) five years , this profound and heartbreakingly candid insight into Modern Life will shake you to the core (Pilates 101) pic.twitter.com/aVXCfvAyfd
— Sam Neill (@TwoPaddocks) May 23, 2020
To summarize (though it’s worth experiencing on your own), Neill arrives home from an errand only to discover that his phone (played and voiced by — and we cannot stress this enough — Academy Award-nominated actress Helena Bonham Carter) guilting him for daring to leave it behind. Some cussing ensues.
Honestly, we are impressed. While most celebrity videos during lockdown have had an air of desperation that worked against them, this one leaned into the chaos.
We’ll be expecting a sequel with double the budget any day now.