Esperando la hora

For some reason I'd been resisting seeing this film until a friend thrust it into my hands and said, "C'mon, Toni Collette and Parker Posey, how can you go wrong?"

Maybe I was resisting because I didn't want to see my life up there on the screen. Currently working in a temp job (where I am typing this review), "Clockwatchers" is terrifyingly familiar. It's not a hilarious comedy, although it is quite funny. Certain moments threaten to veer into David Lynch-style self-conscious surrealism, but the director reigns these moments in, in the nick of time.

It's a film about small things happening in an enclosed space, and the friendships that grow between the most unlikely of people, due mostly to proximity. The mood of paranoia that emerges in the second half of the film is perfect - turning trivialities into monumental acts of anarchy and betrayal. The office becomes a sealed microcosm where the theft of a tiny plastic monkey becomes the end of the world.

Not everyone is going to understand this film - it's not "Office Space", which is more accessibly 'wacky'. You're not going to chuck it on with your mates and have a good laugh. It's much more sombre and serious and ultimately quite sad. And it's made me quit my job (so perhaps I should have given it 10 stars, just for that).

I certainly expected a riot of a film, a very brass comedy in the vein on Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion. Why? Well, if one looked at the poster and the summary. in reality, it's mostly a drama, and deeper than I had expected going into it. The four leads are very strong, and while she has the most screen time, Collette does not have the showiest role. That would be Parker Posey who is great at this type of role. Lisa Kudrow's character is also something we've seen from her before, but she's so fantastic at it. She's not as over-the-top as her character in Friends, but she gives it so much nuance and quiet humor, the type that'd be surprising if I already didn't know how great of an actress she was. This is definitely recommended.

I saw this on cable last night, just 2 days after seeing the Sprecher sisters' latest film, 13 Conversations About One Thing - that was the reason I stayed up til 2:30 a.m. to watch it, in fact (please read my review of 13 Conversations, posted yesterday). This film is linear - one scene following the other chronologically - and therefore not as challenging to the viewer as 13 Conversations, but it does leave its mark (as one character in the movie has been told to do).

Writer/Director Jill Sprecher is extremely adept in nailing down specifics, and this gift for detail is in full evidence here. The film is about fear, lunch hours, pettiness, toilet paper, loneliness, rubber band balls, despair, paper clips, friendship, pencils, desperation, cocktail garnishes, anger - downright fury, actually - at being marginalized by the illusion of society - and much more. Toni Collette's face is still in my memory - her terrified-to-do-or-say-the-wrong-thing rabbit eyes, her rapture at feeling connected to her 3 fellow temp workers (and specifically, seeing her nose crinkle the way it does when she smiles), the desolation of seeing their bond destroyed by wretched but inevitable bone-chilling office politics and fear.

It's a small slice of life, Clockwatchers, but it's an important slice, one that anyone who has ever interacted with anyone on a daily, money-driven basis can relate to. If you've ever held a job, I'm saying, you will see yourself mirrored in at least some of these meticulous details.

This is a really provocative movie that is artfully filmed.

Good art often offers commentary on the times. When you're in the midst of an era, it's hard to see what characterizes it. I think Clockwatchers does a terrific job of capturing a facet of the temp world of the 80's/90's. I was a temp for a year in 1988. It's quite accurate.

But you don't have to be a temp to recognize these characters. Yes Dilbert, yes Office Space, and especially the beginning of Joe vs the Volcano have these same foils. But I think Clockwatchers' take was unique. The characters were well developed while still being archetypes. There was a subtlety and style that all the others listed chose against.

The direction and cinematography of this film is terrific. It takes guts to burn film doing a close-up of someone's glasses for 10 seconds. There is real art to this film. The writing, the directing, the pacing, editing, all right up at the top of the scale. The acting was fine, but I don't think it's the strong suit of this movie. Toni Collette is a standout. While I love Parker Posey, I think she was probably a bit over the top here. The Muzak, while as mood-setting as the buzz of florescent lighting, can grate at a viewer.

This film touched on too may things to list them all. Here's a sample... What are you doing with your life if you're waiting for it to burn off? Isn't it exhausting and poisoning to pretend to look busy all day? If you are a cog in a machine, and accomplishing nothing at that too, did you really even exist? Are the "troublemakers" in life getting us in trouble, or offering us freedom (note there are two people here stirring up the pot)? What is theft (and theft of services)? Where is the dividing line between unethical play and immorality? At what point do you give up on the dream of personal growth? Are some people "better" than others? What does beauty (and grooming) have to do with it? Does the corporate hierarchy define our worth to others or our self-worth? What is loyalty and betrayal, to whom do you owe how much, and how do you give consent to those obligations/ownership? Work/friends/family are all portrayed as villains and allies wielding this loyalty Sword of Damocles.

One IMDB reviewer said this film was a good way to kill time after work. That's terrific irony. :)

So many people write that this movie is about temporary replacement workers. It is not. It is a warfield with the soldiers disguised as office workers. It's a look at humanity, it is a look at human trust, compassion, greed, and ambition. It is a look at the every thing that divides people, no matter how silly the things may seem. One may look at everything people do in this movie, and think "Why are these people getting so upset. Nothing here REALLY matters, but they pretend like it's the end of the world." Well, this is the only world they know. This is the world they are stuck in, and this is the only world they think they'll ever be a part of. The little things show just as much about character as the killings in a war. Some of the characters kind of realize there's more to life, and these are the ones we hope for. There is so much in this film that could be observed. Saying this is a movie about a bunch of office temps is like saying "American Beauty" is a movie about a man going through mid-life crisis. There is so much more in it. It is possible to learn as much about human nature in this as it there is in an epic war movie.

The cast is particularly superb. Parker Posey was born to play her role. There is no actress that can play the arrogant, hyper, rude yet somehow lovable female as Posey. Lisa Kudrow adds a thorough discomfort the movie is trying to achieve. In "Clockwatchers", she plays her stereotypical "comic bimbo" role in a way that doesn't seem funny. Her character is more sad. In a typical office comedy, her character would get the most laughs. Not here. She plays it in a way you can only feel sorry for her, and you can only hope she finds a better life. Somehow, you know that she can't.

This is certainly not a comfortable movie to sit through. You have to be more in the mood to see "Saving Private Ryan" than you would, say, "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion". It digs too deep, and most people wouldn't be in the mood to see that on a Friday night. If you look deep enough, however, and are patient enough, there are so many great gifts this movie can provide. My rating: 10/10.