A Fear of Silence

This short, dark award-winning film (New York, London) is set in a shadowy basement bar . A stranger (Christopher Owen) wanders in and addresses a tirade of stream of consciousness at an old man who sits in the corner quietly supping his stout. Although the old man’s dialogue is limited to just two oft-repeated words (yes and no) the stranger reads them as a fierce interrogation which eventually leads him to confess to a murder which took place outside the bar a short time earlier.

The taciturn old man is played by the British comedian Max Wall; this was his last film appearance (1989).