Clockwatchers (1997)

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Jill Sprecher's Clockwatchers begins with a perfect moment of clockwatching, then proceeds to introduce us to a cast of office temps who are all watching the clock, not just at work, but in their lives. Life as office tedium, and shot with an eye towards geometry, with off-centered characters waiting in blocks of pale, inoffensive color. The screen as a cubicle. Office politics, injustice and rebellion eventually lead the cast to split up (these are temporary jobs, after all) and it's a shame that despite a certain expressionistic vision, realism makes characters leave before they can get as much closure as Toni Collette's wall flower character. But as watchable as roustabout Parker Posey is, this is Collette's story, and it's her awakening that is the true movement forward of the film. Since the comparison is inevitable, let me make it: I like this better than the better-known Office Space. Not only did it come out two years before, but the use of temps makes its existentialism crisper, and it doesn't resort to extreme caricature to create its world. 2 years 9 months ago