The Oscar nominated short film "Culture", by Josh Gordon and Will Speck, brings the challenges and dilemas of work culture with fine humor,
some mystery and small thrills that makes it all funny, thanks to a sharp cast (the late Philip Seymour Hoffman has a fun cameo) and an intelligent script.
Greg Germann plays Timothy, a ruthless yet hard-working executive who gets promoted to a different sector of a newspaper - "Culture section"
where he's given new responsabilities, a better payment, an office and desk all for himself and a secretary. The last bit doesn't seem to impress
Tim all that much, since he's given a veteran secretary (Florence Stanley) who doesn't like to interact with hew new boss, and she does things in
her own way, following old traditions, using her own time to accomplish her tasks, which goes in a way that goes up aginst everything Timothy
stands for: Things must be done with "Speed, efficiency and organization", unlike the old lady's loud typewriter, slow-mannered way of speaking among
other things. Yet, the editors who run the place trust her work and dedication. But who's gonna be untouchable in this scenario? Will they ever
find ways to reach a common goal and complete their work, or at least be decent co-workers?
Obviously that there's a whole set of mystery revolving the silent lady which upsets the boss at first, but they keep on going fine as she
surprises him in a nice manner. But anyone new on a certain field must find ways to understand and respect a veteran force, specially someone
who's been too long on a certain company. Can Timothy learn something with someone with a distinguished different working culture than his?
Won't say I had some big laughs with this one, as I was more fascinated with the intruging bits from the story which serves a great relevance
to life - whatever the job you may have or had. The whole company spirit of "We're all together on the same boat" isn't like a rowing team where
each member has its importance; it's more like Hitchcok's "Lifeboat" where ego, vanity and lack of trust get in the way of a common goal. Like Paul
McCartney's song "You have to give the other man a hell". In the short film case, it isn't about competition (if it were, the secretary would be
the editor), it's about respect, communication, tolerance and the human skills. Yet all it takes to things start crumbling down is what one does
to affect another person, and how you make them feel. 8/10.
