Maybe it's not fair to compare Fantozzi with this film, because, even if both characters are sad caricatures that provoke comedy because of their predicament, the lead of this film is actually a believable personality. Perhaps Senotaji is what Fantozzi and Trainspotting would give birth to, via Office Space.
The main character is an office worker that has a constricted life: an abandoned woman as a mother, always teaching him that all women are seductresses and whores, a boss that wants to use him both as a symbol of corporate greed as well as a boy toy, slimy colleagues that he has nothing in common with, and so on. In the end he resorts to magic mushrooms and finds resolution and peace.
Now, while the film was well done, well acted and was full of interesting symbolism, it wasn't by any account perfect. While the start was constructed slowly and steadily, the ending felt rushed and kind of plastered over a different kind of script. There is such an abrupt jump from whipped wuss to confident happy hippie, and in such a short time, that the viewer feels robbed of the potential to express even more the solution, the moral obligation of people to take control of their life and actually make a choice.
But overall I thought it was an above average film. There were some fine touches that really connected with me, like the guy who kills himself drinking photographic developer as a revolt against the boss casually dismissing him for "not enough development in this company". The boss then comes to his remembrance office party prepared for another party afterward, completely missing the point. As a person that has worked in a corporate environment I understand the feeling.
Bottom line: a really good low budget movie that got kind of rushed at the end. Even if I get the Grof-like self psycho-treatment with hallucinogenic mushrooms and the logic behind it all, I feel that either the first part is too detailed or that the last is way to simple. Either way, I didn't feel the film was a comedy at all. In fact it was a metaphorical drama about our every day existence.
