User Reviews

"El Empleo" is a surrealist animated short from Argentina which takes place in a world where every single activity, even those that are supposed to be made by objects and artifacts are done by ordinary humans, who "work" playing the role of mirrors, tables and automobiles in everyday life.

Very well animated (I particularly like the stylish character design) and having an excellent atmosphere (The lack of dialogue or music accentuates the sense of "realism" of the strange world where this short takes place) "El Empleo" feels pretty much like an absurdist play, which effectively works in a short format.

When I saw this short film it opens with the usual laurel leaves award logo which all short film festivals seem to use now, except in this case the screen is full of them for about the first 30 seconds of the film since, as it tells us, it has so far won 102 awards. I tried to ignore this since I never think it is a good idea to pre-hype your own film with talk of greatness. The short film is basically one joke, or rather one point being made. We join a familiar scene as a man walks up to prepare to go to his work. The scene is made less ordinary by the sight that this mirror is held by a person, his coat and keys held by a person and so on. He does to work on someone's back, only stopping at traffic lights (which are two guys wearing a red or green shirt under a coat), this continues until he reaches the place of his work.

Although it is amusing and cleverly done, essentially I think this short is meant to make us think about the nature of work and the ultimate space we all fit in. Although the examples are extreme, it is difficult for many to really say we work to make a huge difference and that, without the specific job we do, somehow the world would spin off its axis and collapse in chaos. So, while the specifics offer more than the dead-eyed tasks performed in this film, it is only a matter of degrees in many cases. As an one-message deal, the film does frustrate for its comment but lack of alternatives and I did wonder what the makers thought the world should look like if this really is what they are saying. The lack of context does rather feel like they are kicking the service industries, including those performing essential but ultimately unfulfilling tasks.

The animation is clever and some of the uses of people in the place of automated tasks is frequently quite clever but this is a simple short that makes one point and then continues to make it throughout. It is still amusing and thought-provoking but with 102 awards under its belt I can only presume it touched a nerve in many others even though it didn't do too much for me personally.

Just watched this animated short on YouTube as linked from Cartoon Brew by Pes. Directed by Santiago Bou Grasso, it depicts a man on his way to work as he does his usual routine. Except that many objects-like a table, a clothes-hook, a tall lamp, etc.-are depicted as a person or persons standing still or on all fours just...there doing nothing. When we get to what this man does...Oh, just watch this short film on YouTube if you want to see how this ends. Quite amusing if not hilarious and wait till you watch after the end credits! Pes himself actually thought this film was a little long since he thought this could have been a couple of minutes shorter (funny I thought his Western Spaghetti was TOO SHORT), but I thought the length was long enough. Anyway, I highly recommend El empleo.

There are many things to write yet none would be as shocking and effective like the movie. I've read some opinions about the movie, and I was shocked even more... Hey guys, this movie just criticizes how employees are "used, materialised". It does not target the "employment".

The alternate reality created by the writer is so shocking and disturbing the people might have difficulties facing it. The movie is simply great. And no, if a movie receives 102 awards, let me know it from the start :) , it doesn't bother me, on the contrary I liked it.

Thanks for this great movie, it's not only thought-provoking, it's also 'perception-breaking'. A cinema lover is incomplete if s/he has not watched this movie. Thumbs up.

The film highlights the reality of the world we are living in. The starts with a man waking up to his daily routine. He is supported by real people, someone holds mirror for him, someone play legs of table, chair, etc. Their faces are sad, and that's a statement. We expect him to be a rich man exoloiting others, turns out that his job is worse than any of them.

Everyone is working for someone, not living their own life to the fullest. At the end we see the man holding his lamp quits his job for a welcome change.

"The Employment" is a 6.5-minute short film from 7 years ago and first of all do not be scared of its country of origin Argentina and language Spanish. You don't have to speak it as there is no dialogue in this animated short. We see a man get up in the morning and already in his house the tasks of inanimate objects are taken over by people, such as the one of a lamp, a chair or a table. When he leaves the house, same can be said about the likes of traffic lights and even elevators. And in the end we are reminded that everybody, even our hero has someone above him in terms of chain of command and the protagonist may have the worst job of all we saw in here. This short film is about as much about his employment as about the employment of all the other people we see here. There is probably a touch of criticism against society in here, especially with the ending when the lamp guy just decides it's enough. The animation certainly looks a bit older than 2008, it also could have been a 1970s or 1980s effort by the NFB the way it looks. Good short film with some smart scenes and all in all a decent watch.