Written and directed by Casey McAdams, ‘Hello in Here’ is a 2023 drama feature about a woman who becomes increasingly isolated due to her monotonous routine and starts to unravel as a result. The film stars Chynna Walker as the titular character.
‘Hello in Here’ finds Chynna Walker playing Kara, a young woman who lives alone. As she finds herself mired in her day to day work and chores, Kara will realise that slowly and gradually, she might be losing her mind. As the line between reality and fantasy begins to blur significantly, what will Kara have to let go to come back to the real world?
‘Hello in Here’ is fantastic. It is refreshing to see a movie that perfectly reflects our society of today where young people are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain their mental health. Juggling work, chores and personal health; it is ever more difficult to find time for social relationships. The result is that we first find ourselves stuck in our own little worlds and then the monotonous lifestyle slowly begins to chip away at our sanity. What follows is a slow motion breakdown of what we consider our default state leading us to an outcome that we seldom expect.
Chynna Walker as Kara is a revelation and her nuanced portrayal carries the entire film. Perfectly encapsulating the solitary lifestyle of a young woman who tries to keep herself occupied by drowning herself in work, chores and entertainment, Walker makes her protagonist someone we can all identify with. She is stoic, vulnerable and expressive all rolled into one and she carries the entire movie without fail. It is hard to create a movie around only one character but Casey McAdams manages to do so with style, rarely stumbling across the film’s entire feature length runtime.
The most fascinating thing about the film is that it uses the visual medium to convey how Kara is feeling. From the extreme closeups of the protagonist slowly and gradually exploding from within to the repetitive actions of her daily affairs, the film goes above and beyond in depicting the solitary experience. The cinematography has a specific purpose; the camera angles, the colour grading and camera motion all work together to convey to us the solitude felt by the individual. The unconventional shots and the vibrant colour depict the confusion present inside Kara’s mind as she struggles to make sense of the world around him. The music is another thing that works really well. The score elevates the entire film, conveying feelings and emotions that cannot be expressed through the visual medium alone.
McAdams melds the narrative with the pacing and editing masterfully, creating a narrative that slows down when she wants to and speeds up in moments of tension. This also helps us understand the sensory perception of Kara herself as our solitary protagonist finds herself slowly and gradually breaking apart at the seams. Karal’s reality is rattling and the film places us in the first row seat to help us experience the unsettling realities of living such an aloof life.
Thus, Hello in Here is a fascinating insight into how loneliness and solitude can mess us up. Human beings were never meant to be alone and in this technological world where modern gadgets have actually increased distances between us, it is important to realise the power of companionship so that we do not go crazy. Casey McAdams’ movie is thus a much needed booster shot in this regard, one that wins over the audience with its powerful portrayal of a solitary woman slowly going insane. The film is quirky, original and goes in directions we least expect it to.
We loved the film wholeheartedly and cannot recommend it enough.
