Haiku Tunnel

Let me start by saying I have very little in common with a law temp.

This movie cannot be likened to Office Space except for in the fact that it deals with typical corporate America.

I see complaints that this movie is an inside joke, only understandable by certain people, etc... etc...

It's a really well done description of an experience, it's funny, and it describes with great accuracy the void experienced when life, in general sucks...

The well done monologue regarding his love for his own bed... his reaction upon meeting with the bed... his diversion from actual work to mess around writing his own novel rather than doing his work... his delaying of the easy work for gaps in the hard work... and various other details... the interaction with the guard and attempt to fast-talk his way into the building... all of these little parts are done so well and each one describes a flawed piece of the American workplace... with a dash of humor, this movie is extremely well done and something I think everyone should at least watch.

The negative reviews I read cast a dark shadow over my appreciation for the rest of the movie watching crowd... if you don't work as part of an office, you should most certainly NOT write a review for this... and if you work in an office and you wrote a bad review for this movie... maybe you should watch it again and realize which putz in the movie most accurately represents you, and then change your management style to more adequately fit your employees...

I think the accuracy of this film stabs manager-types in the chest with their own inadequacy and lack of insight, and appeals to those who work under them by illuminating the cycle of depression and cynicism the office instills.... and I think this was the goal of the movie, as well as drawing a few laughs.

Let me conclude by saying that this movie is NOT office space... it has very little to do with it. Office space is very 1 dimensional and thus more humorous... dealing with the utter lack of importance most of our work seems to have behind it (Filing those reports, using the right header) while this movie approaches the feeling of dread (the haiku tunnel itself) we face when given too much lattitude in pointless work after long periods of time, and the struggle to fit in with a model of business partially unfamiliar with what we do (working at S&M as a perm rather than temp, doing more than word processing)...

While not a world apart from Office Space, it is in fact more complex, more telling, less hollywood, and slightly less funny than it's counterpart.

I walked into Jacks office this morning, and I said, "Jack, I don't care if you're a partner, you owe me an apology for what you said to me on Friday." I walked right in, I said, "Jack, I don't care if you're a partner, you owe me an apology, 'cause what you said to me on Friday, it was unforgivable Jack, and you owe me an apology." I said, "Jack, I don't care if you're a partner, what you said to me on Friday, it ruined my weekend. It ruined my Saturday, it ruined my Sunday, and that's my weekend Jack and you owe me an apology!" He said, "Well I'm sorry." And I said, "Well you better be sorry because you owe me an apology!"

("He probably did owe you an apology...")

You're damn right he did! I said, "Jack, I don't care if you're a partner, what you said to me on Friday, it ruined my weekend." I woke up Saturday morning and 9-10, I was miserable. 10-11 worse, 11-12 even worse, 12-1, well that was a little better because I was having lunch....

While this film has its moments of "corporate spoof," I wouldn't say that's its main thrust. Haiku Tunnel reminds me more of The Critic, in that it seems to exist in its own universe. The cleverness of the writing brought me right into that universe, all the while knowing that the very surreal atmosphere in this guy's world was a near guarantee that everything would turn out okay. After a stressful work week myself, this was the perfect relief.

I would say I recommend this to the whole wide world, but judging from the other reviews here that would be silly. Some folks got into the humor, some did not. I must say I'm getting close to NOT reading the reviews of movies I loved, because the reviews are tending towards cruel. Haiku Tunnel does not deserve such treatment. And please, if you don't bother to watch a film all the way through, why bother reviewing it at all? I'm mystified.

Go with your instinct here, folks. It's obviously not for everyone, but I gave it a 10.

That Josh Kornbluth is a cross between the young Zero Mostel and the not-so-young Woody Allen. He is the epitome of the schlemiel, which makes me realize that if you're Jewish, you will find it hilarious, but if you're a WASP (like my wife) you won't think it's funny, but sad. The poor guy... he needs help. That's why this permanent 'temp' becames tempted to 'perm.' He'll take a permanent job because the law firm will cover his psychotherapy. He's desperately in need of psychotherapy, and he seems to know it, but there's no indication he's in it, except that he's prone to free-associate, and so his unconscious spills onto he screen and into your lap, which gives the viewer mixed feelings. He talks to the audience, he has fantasies, he gets back to the plot, and new characters come on. The funniest is when he starts lying to a paralegal and she is so enchanted in his story that he's a full-time tax attorney who writes novels on the side. This is very similar to a recent New Yorker short story, which I think is by the same guy. He milks the situation of lying in order to get a gal in bed, and then guilt and inability to keep up the lies, and get kicked out of bed. It is clear he would rather sleep than screw, which indicates his need for therapy, one of these chronic lowgrade depressions that don't respond to Prozac or Paxil.

The Synopsis: "I don't go perm on my first week." remark the words of Josh Kornbluth, a San Francisco office temp by day, an aspring novelist whenever. Josh has gotten a new temp job with S&M, a downtown law firm where he works as a receptionist. But going back on his words, Josh takes on a "permanent" position as the receptionist of head lawyer Bob Shelby, and his first task is to mail out 17 high priority letters, but due to Josh's continual procrastination which run between his novel and an attractive lawyer, Josh gets further and further away from completing a simple task.

Review: If you've ever worked as a temp, you'll very much appreciate the kind of humor that the offbeat "Haiku Tunnel" injects. The Kornbluth Brothers' film captures every nook and cranny of temping from receiving that much awaited phone call to carrying out those simple tasks. A former temp himself, lead Josh Kornbluth is amusing in many ways from his unusual, yet warm personality as the inept temp. I really don't want to spoil the humor, but if you're offbeat, and I mean, a very offbeat individual, then "Haiku Tunnel" is precisely the kind of film you would want to view.