 | MOVIE #1,613 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 05.08.24 D̷I̷R̷E̷C̷T̷O̷R̷ ̷F̷I̷L̷L̷-̷I̷N̷ ̷S̷E̷R̷I̷E̷S̷:̷ CHRIS SMITH I have reviewed five of Chris Smith’s documentary films, including his first and perhaps my favorite doc ever made, 1999’s American Movie (since then his output has ranged from the middling to the pretty good, and he’s also responsible for one of the dueling Fyre fest films and executive-producing The Tiger King series). And while he’s primarily (and prolifically) worked in that genre (he's basically a Netflix employee at this point), he has strayed into narrative filmmaking. His debut, American Job, while technically a narrative fiction is as close to resembling a documentary as a movie can get. And I really enjoyed this one. It feels weirdly ahead of its time in a way I can't or don't feel like trying to describe. It's the kind of movie I would have hated 15 years ago, but love now. |
American Job is a narrative film about Randy Scott (Randy Russell), a youth caught in the dismal confusion of living and working in the world of minimum wage. The film follows Randy through a number of low-paying, menial jobs including fast food dishwasher, custodian, telemarketer, and factory worker. It highlights the sheer boredom of minimum wage work and is a slightly comical and occasionally depressing look at what life is like in the US minimum wage arena.There’s no plot here. It’s just Randy and the tedium and indignity of trying to make ends meet in America. He works five different jobs in total (should have been called American JobS, no?). My favorite guy was this dude who he interacts with during a break on the graveyard shift…
He rules.
CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ MOVIE #1,612 - (YOU ARE HERE) - MOVIE #1,614 ⫸
⫷ MOVIE #1,612 - (YOU ARE HERE) - MOVIE #1,614 ⫸
A lowly labourer trudges through a series of boring, low-paying and thankless jobs. It was released on January 22, 1996.
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