The Parking Lot Movie

I've never worked at a parking lot before but I've had a very similar job at a private owned video store arguing with customers over late fees etc. I'd sit there all day doing nothing - sometimes even sleep.

It's amazing what people would do not to pay a dollar. Some one would argue in the film that she was only there for five minutes and would not pay the 1.00 fee. Someone at the video store would bring a movie back late and would refuse to pay a 1.00 late fee. It's frustrating but a lot of us have been there.

My favorite part of the film was the parking lot crew's understanding on frat kids. How they throw up all over there cars drunk off their ass but yet somehow become our next senator or lawyer.

The guys at the parking lot don't want your trouble or your sorrow. They just want to get through the day.

Check this little film out. Grade: B or 8/10

The Parking Lot Movie covers a group of intellectual social misfits that love the comfort of working in an environment that they can shape to their will, but hate dealing with the society that comes and goes through their business. Watching their interactions with the college surroundings is classic. On one side, you have parking lot employee with a PhD in anthropology, passionately working for minimum wage, and on the other is a drunk sorority girl driving a luxury SUV (assumed to be paid for by her parents), and she's trying to skip out on her four dollar parking fee. Although the entire film essentially takes place in a parking lot, it manages to create quite a bit of social commentary, and really works as a fun and thought provoking film.

I picture The Parking Lot Movie working as a brilliant double bill with The Social Network. If one shows how intelligent outcasts can outclass society by working hard and becoming a powerful billionaire in just six years, the other shows how other intelligent outcasts can be just as happy removing themselves from the equation entirely, shielding themselves in apathy, and outclassing society in an entirely different way. The difference is really just between a Type A and B personalities. As the parking lot owner says: "I really like to hire Type B personalities."

Overall, the content the film ends up being much more engaging than you'd expect. The parking lot itself almost seems like a last bastion of creativity and normalcy in an invading world of mindless consumption. The employees really make it out to be an amusing struggle, and you can't help but root for them. Personally, I can't remember ever feeling closer to a group of people on film, and I'm already recommending this to like-minded thinkers.

Why did I like this movie so much? A movie about a car parking lot? I'll start off by saying there is hidden meaning behind the vague simplicity. The meaning is deep. I felt secretly connected. I felt that nice warm indie movie feeling.

What connected me to The Parking Lot movie was the opinions of the attendants, and the situations they got in. I also admired the unintended, amateur splash of artistry that was laying in the background of the movie. It made me feel young.

The opinions of these attendants were deep, they range from personal thoughts of pollution, greed, power, common sense and fairness. But what makes their viewpoints shine is that they all live a lifestyle contrary to their daily customers.

neat.

The underlying point that this feature-length documentary really drives home seems to be that, so long as your boss and coworkers are really cool, just about any gig can be your dream job. I kept hoping we'd see more of the attendants' interactions with angry, rude or ignorant customers, just to observe the new and interesting ways the staff would find to insult them, but the non-confrontational moments were entertaining enough to pick up the slack. A fun look at an interesting group of geeky, identifiable characters who care more about the liberties granted to their lifestyle than about getting rich with a high-stress job.

Yeah this movie was quite good fun. If you work in any service industry where people take you for granted and expect you are only there to serve them and put up with their attitude then you should watch this. It's good fun leering at a bunch of people slowly unwinding until some of them are nearly cracked up. After doing however many hours of sitting in the sun and taking sh*t off drivers all the time they basically can't let anything go. You have to admire their spirit but it's clearly doing their head in. Apart from that it likes to go on a lot about how clever they all are and what a brilliant wacky time they have. Hate to say it but the funniest bit for me was every time someone broke their barrier and you just heard that SNAP from round the corner and off they went racing to get their $35 off whatever drunk jock was trying to shag it or whatever.

All a bit pleased with themselves really. Very entertaining. SNAP!