Voicemails from Strangers

I've been a fan of Austin for a while. But when he put out his documentary 'Voice Mail's from Strangers' I didn't know what to expect. Throughout the short documentary you go through the lives of different people. Everyone has a story and Austin helps they're voices be heard. It's heartwarming and it's important. Tales of people getting the promotion or raise they wanted, or those who lost a loved one or broke up with their lover. The documentary shows us everyone's walk of life but from different perspectives, ages, and mentalities.

A 50 minute doc this does something I've never seen before. I love the polish in the music, subtitles, B-roll, and structure of the voice mails. Really made me feel for every person, and capturing that level of intimacy is incredible.

I am a huge fan of Austin. I first saw one of his videos in late 2017, and since spring of 2018 I've been watching his videos regularly. I love them, especially those about filmmaking and his own experiences making films, so I was pretty excited when I saw his tweet saying something along the lines of "Maybe I'll drop a feature film on my channel later this month.".

"Voicemails from Strangers" is a documentary, Austin's first one. In early July I believe he made a creator post on YouTube throwing out his phone number. I find it hilarious that so many commenters believed it was the phone number he uses in daily life. Some people got through to him, but he received over 6000 voicemails, including one voicemail from me, and he compiled them into this documentary.

I enjoyed watching the documentary mainly because of Austin, and because of the experiences shared by the callers, but I was honestly underwhelmed. I wish there was at least some narration throughout the film. Austin has an amazing speaking voice. But my big issue has to do with the opening. I, as a long-term subscriber of his, understood what's going on because I saw all these posts and videos that started this project. But I think that someone who never saw Austin's channel before would be slightly confused. No information was given about who Austin is, or why so many people called him.