You’ve seen the billboards. “1-800-HURT-NOW” looms over both Briarcliff and Cheshire Bridge Road in garish block font, an eyesore so ubiquitous that you tend to forget it’s a real phone number. And you might know where I’m going with this, if you’ve been keeping score at home. The neon-blazing new wave trio Breathers based one of the catchiest singles of the year around one of these fraudulent hotlines, as the crackpot attorney behind the phone drinks in his own impossible claims. Welp, now you can watch the story of “1-800-PAIN,” thanks to this surreal short-length feature that the gang premiered last week. Just like in the song, shades of the ‘80s excess snap like a photo filter over scenes that could only happen in Atlanta.
Now, real talk: I actually got to watch this about two weeks ago, and I’ve been dying to write about it ever since. Directed by Tim Reis, the Eric Andre Show-style production seems a bit silly on the surface; at one point, our protagonist Mr. Tom Pain (played by frontman T. Lee Gunselman) catches a clipboard hung down on a string, a classic low-budget gag. But as more astute viewers will likely gather from the shadowy sets and eerie lighting, the cheap effects and convenient plot holes reveal the sinister ways that both legal and medical professionals ignore humanity. Note, for instance, the girl in the wheelchair that an assistant rolls up to Mr. Pain’s desk; we see her briefly as she seems to state her case, then the calls pile up and she basically vanishes. Note, too, how the doctor (played by Apples in Stereo maestro Robert Schneider) barely looks up when Gunselman’s ear spurts blood all over him. So while the paradox of an attorney calling himself in the final scene seems like the punchline to an elaborate skit about time travel, there’s a certain Twilight Zone-like revelation here. He steps into his own hollow promises, and sees with numb clarity how swiftly the injured fall through the cracks.
So, no joke: for two weeks, whenever I see one of those billboards now, some condensed abstract of that last paragraph comes to mind. I’m glad it’s all out now. Atlanta can be a beautiful place (I swear), but sometimes it takes a pop song to remind folks that not everyone here can find (or afford) relief.
More Info
Bandcamp: breathers.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @breathersmusic
Instagram: @breathers.biz
SoundCloud: @breathers
Twitter: @BreathersATL