The Slamdance Film Festival runs Digitally and In-Person from January 19th to January 28th.
Much as I tried I just couldn’t click in to Pete Oh’s world that he painted for the audience. Everything about his movie is a science fiction dystopia centered on the irony that everyone loves to be subjugated and work themselves to the bone. With the whole reversal of the concept of the working class, as well as the central plot of the narrative of two people accidentally learning what pleasure and relaxation feels like, I was relatively bored most of the time.
It’s not to say that Pete Oh and the collective cast and crew behind “Love and Work” are untalented. His film is very well directed, and he manages to perfectly extrapolate on his alternate world with such an obvious small budget and smaller cast. It’s just that so much of the humor and absurdist explorations of life were so on the nose that they were difficult to mine entertainment from. In one scene Diane tells Fox the world is not only black and white. The movie is filmed in black and white.
Diane arrives at the shoe factory looking for a job. She meets the boss, nails the interview and gets hired on the spot, immediately joining a small team of co-workers led by Fox. Before her first day of work ends, the factory gets shut down, the boss is in big trouble and all the employees are suddenly unemployed. Because in this world, manufacturing is prohibited and it’s illegal to employ or be employed. Unfortunately, Diane and Fox love to work. Together, Diane and Fox seek employment and in the process, fall in love.
The whole relationship between Diane and Fox is kind of tedious to watch unfold, and I was never interested in their whole dynamic from the moment they began interacting. The entire ultimate discovery of the concept of hobbies, and self gratification, and other forms of relaxation never hits the comedic notes that it’s trying to. There were just so many unusual and bizarre plot points that never quite added up to much of anything. Why is working illegal again? Who made it a rule? Is there a lethal penalty to constantly working? And why did Fox give their Boss a pep talk about putting his hands on employees? Nevertheless, “Love and Work” is teeming with talent as well as small great instances of comedy here and there. I just found it so tough to sit through and was so glad it clocked in at a merciful seventy five minutes.