American Job

this film blew me away. chris smith managed to perfectly nail every summer and part-time job i ever had. i always knew that those experiences had been formative in some important but yet undefinable way. smith manages to actually make a film out of it. some might call it "boring", but to me that's half the point: he expertly communicates the pathos of the mindless job that no one cares about, not even the people doing it. if you've never schlepped burgers at a fast food joint to make some extra money for college, or spent countless mind-numbing hours in a warehouse with people going nowhere in life, then you may not be able to relate to this film.

I saw this film as part of a film series last night. This film was hosted by Tom Gilroy who is good friends with Chris Smith and was able to relay lots of information about the film. Some important facts have been missed by other reviewers:

Most importantly, this isn't fiction -- at least it wasn't scripted. Instead Chris asked Randy to revisit all of the crappy jobs he had, worked with all the original folks from those jobs, and filmed it all. There were no actors, and no dialog was scripted. Randy and his coworkers/bosses were merely asked to replay the circumstances while Chris filmed at the actual locations. Some folks are more aware of the camera than others, but everyone in the film is "playing" themselves.

Now quick comments: 1) This is groundbreaking cinema in that it accurately portrays boredom. Its pseudo-documentary television is unique and much more real than reality television. For this reason alone, the film is important. The craft is also very grand and the editing tells the story well and the way Chris intended.

2) This makes a great sociological statement about the state of work in America. This should be a part of everyone's consciousness. So many Americans work in jobs like this. To address a comment above, it isn't that Randy has a bad work ethic, he just knows that this is not the way he wants to live, and the only power he has is to leave a job (which is very powerful actually -- have you ever walked out on a job?).

3) This is the most boring movie I've ever seen. It's supposed to be. It's craft is riveting (see 1), it's statement is bold (see 2), but the actual images and non-action are as dull and numbing as Randy's jobs.

Make sure and approach it the right way, and this can be entertaining, without context, this would be unwatchable.

Some people might find this movie boring. The way todays movies are made, full of action and one line jabs, most people cant sit through something as steadily intelligent as AMERICAN JOB. The movie chronicles a small town nobody and his escapades through various meaningless jobs. It is so refreshing to have a leading character not be a loudmouth , for this small town nobody leads the audience through the movie without adding too much, rather to let them experience his situation along with him. This movie is smart, it is funny, and shows that you don't need millions of dollars to put together a good movie.

This is a good movie, but not an enjoyable one. Sometimes i found it painful to watch. I've known people like the 'hero' Randy, sometimes I've been like him, and I've worked in jobs like the one's in the film. I'm lucky enough to be able to move on to something that fulfils me, but i fully understand the lifestyle. I don't know how much of the acting was acting, it was either uniformly excellent, or just completely real. Randy Russell's physical appearance carries his character perfectly. It would be interesting to see how he carries himself in real life. While sometimes boring as entertainment, the tedium was necessary. There were three or four points in the film that brought it all together, the beginning and the end especially. The first three minutes could be an amazing short film in itself.

The appearance of the woman at the reception shows everything that Randy isn't. The ease of conversation and the happiness with one's self that these few lines show are quite heartbreaking when we come back to our hero. I think the film is more about the social issue rather than about the system where one works. Yet then again it could be argued that the worker is a product of the system and society that he is immersed in. Tribespeople in Africa may have many many problems but from my experience they don't suffer this level of alienation, loneliness and despair that exists in the work structure. I don't know what the purpose of the film is. People existing under these conditions won't want to sit through this, and for people who've never experienced this life it seems like a nasty voyeuristic thrill. I only hope that seeing this film will make people want to change these conditions. A sad film, without much hope, but an essential one, if only to make people get up and make things better.

This is a great movie. Ground breaking in that it accurately reflects how mundane life can be. It's slow but so is the life of Randy (the lead character). The film transports you into the monotony of his life. The management types that think what they do is so important is so right on. One of my top 10 films of all time.