Brick and Phone Booth

Hey, did anyone see Brick at the film fest? Could be a bit off-topic but one thing I noticed about the film was the absence of technology. The protagonist, Brendan, mainly communicates through an old telephone box and pen and paper. The only digital tech foregrounded is his alarm clock, which is remediated on the film's site. I think he brorrows his best mate's ("the Brain") cellphone for a while but apart from that he seems quite resitant to modern tech, and his alarm clock kind of acts as a symbol of his impending doom.

The old telephone box reminded me of the contrasting tech use in Phone Booth. Made in 2002, post-nokia 3310 boom, some of it is a bit dated and even though it's more of a typical commercial Hollywood action-thriller, it makes some interesting points about mobile phone usage. The narrator mentions that "it used to be a mark of insanity to see people talk to themselves, now it's a mark of status." Being a publicist, the lead character Stu seems more hi-tech savvy than Brendan, but he too retreats into an old telephone box in the middle of a Baudrillard-esque urban landscape of hi-tech displays and advertisements.

I don't think the mobile phone has lived up to its promise of complete mobility and freedom, could tie back to the ideas of privacy/surveillance and Sadie Plant's "innies" and "outies" to hark back to 100. Anyone still use the old Telecom phone boxes or seen any films lately that display interesting tech use? Stella