Sundance review: 'Joybubbles' introduces people to a singular person, using his talents to give himself the childhood he missed out on

By one very important criteria, director Rachael J. Morrison’s “Joybubbles” succeeds as a documentary — because it introduces someone most people have never heard of, and shows us not only why the person matters but why your life would have been improved if you had met them.

The man known as Joybubbles was born blind in 1949, something that many people at that time believed doomed him to an incomplete life. He became obsessed early on with telephones, and figured out at age 5 that he could dial phone numbers by clicking the hang-up switch quickly. Two years later, he discovered that if he whistled — his pitch was perfect, the movie tells us — he could activate phone switches. In college in Florida, he made friends by using his well-pitched whistle to call long distance numbers for his classmates, without paying for them.

This, Morrison’s film tells us, was the beginning of the “phone phreak” era — an early version of hacking, using technology in ways that were innovative and would irritate the tech companies who were missing out on money they might otherwise get.

From there, Joybubbles’ obsession with the phone led him to create a recorded hotline. The hotline carried a ridiculous name — Zzzzyzzerrific Funline — so it would be the last listing in the phone book.

The sweetness and light of “Joybubbles” doesn’t keep viewers from encountering some dark passages. The worst is the news that the boy would become Joybubbles suffered from the childhood trauma of being sexually abused. That abuse, we’re told, caused him to revert to a childlike state, where his fascination with “Mister Rogers Neighborhood” grew with every viewing.

Morrison has unearthed a treasure trove of footage, showing Joybubbles — the name they chose to make their legal name — figuring out just how much of his boyhood was stifled by his abuse. The amazing thing about the film is how Joybubbles worked to make sure their adulthood was like a second childhood. Considering what we see and hear from this remarkable person, there’s no doubt that they earned it.

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‘Joybubbles’

★★★

Screening in the U.S. Documentary competition of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. Not rated, but probably PG-13 for thematic material and some language. Running time: 79 minutes.

The film screens again: Tuesday, Jan. 27, 9 a.m., Redstone Cinemas 1, Park City; Thursday, Jan. 29, 12:30 p.m., Holiday Village Cinemas 1, Park City; Friday, Jan. 30, 9:30 p.m., Broadway Centre Cinemas 6, Salt Lake City; Saturday, Jan. 31, 2:45 p.m., Park City Library, Park City. Also screening on Sundance’s web portal, Thursday through Sunday, Jan. 29 to Feb. 1.