8 Minutes Idle (2012)

Too much of everything

Admirable film.

Absolutely Fantastic

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

interesting theme. good intentions. and total chaos. because all seems be an improvisation about work in center call under the crisis period pressure. good opportunity for a ironical critic about condition, horrible boss, job without sense, few drops of love story. each of theme is present. but in a too strange mixture. and that transforms entire film in a meeting of actors and few nice intentions. the viewer understand the message. but he do not care. the story has not coherence and uses a lot of directions. but none credible. result - a kind of exploration of different territories. and a drawing covered by water. a final who could be real great. and a young man universe who reflects real events but seems have not the purpose to convince or impress. a film like a cigarette smoke. beautiful . but for not long time.

8 Minutes Idle is a micro budget feature film set in Bristol. I applaud low budget British films that tend to show a lot of commitment and love just to get it made and tenacity to attract a decent cast who are presumably working for next to nothing.However the key is to have an exciting script that takes an audience to a journey and they care about the story and characters. The journey can be of the mind, something to make you think rather than something where money is thrown on the screen but has an empty shell like many bigger budget Hollywood films.Here we follow Dan (Tom Hughes) thrown out of his house and moves with his cat to his place of work where he secretly squats in the ceiling above the toilets in a dull call centre where everyone's job is precarious.Dan falls in love with co-worker Teri (Ophelia Lovibond) but is also attracted to their horrible boss (Montserrat Lombard.) The film is an adaptation of a novel and is supposedly a comedy that had the potential to be a satirical commentary on the subject of office workplaces during harsh economic times but instead has little of interest to say and is plodding and slow. Some more time and money on the script and interesting characters would had been a start.

I had high expectations of this film with a off the wall storyline. However thought the characters did not endear themselves to the viewer. So I did not really care what was happening to them. The comedy was there somewhere but undemanding - typical British awkward silences work for older protagonists but for the younger in-crowd it felt forced and artificial. As they are call centre workers it is hard to expect these characters would have such a hard time communicating with each other. Disappointed that it was not better especially with some of the more experienced actors involved.

Bristol has become a city I have grown to love the past year and a half I have lived here, and when a film has been made in one's home city, one would really have high hopes for this film to make an impact. It is a micro budget film with a decent British cast assembled. When the indie distributing company went bust, they managed to raise the £20000 needed in a matter of a few days so it can get a cinema release thanks to various funding companies and the generous donations of celebrities. It fills me with joy, the fact that there is much support for the indie film industry, which gives hope for low budget film makers to make their masterpiece. Sadly, this film does not come close to this kind of status.The film follows Dan (Tom Hughes) a rather unfocused and unambitious only child whose parents are splitting up (characteristic to many other indie films). When he is thrown out of his house, he and his cat both move into his work place which is a call centre. It is an interesting theme showing how work can consume your life, but as the film went on, I don't think this theme was explored to it's full potential. Instead, you see him not doing much work, lots of restrained conversations with his work colleagues, many scenes with nothing much happening and a night out at the Thekla, one of Bristol's iconic boat nightclubs/live venues. Like many indie films in the past, the generally un-interesting conversations are delivered in a way that is supposed to be deadpan, but funny. Due to bad performances and a weak script, all these jokes fall flat. The characters are very cliché. Ophelia Lovibond plays the typical love interest which Dan starts to fall in love with. Montserrat Lombard plays the cliché horrible boss Alice which Dan is strangely attracted to and in danger of becoming. I did not find anything between these two characters believable. There is also a geeky character who is supposed to be the random, funny guy, but like everything else in this film, it fails. I did however enjoy the location spotting aspect of the film. There is a scene shot in Stokes Croft, 2 minutes away from where I live. It was nice to see it on the big screen.For an 86 minute film, it moves at a painfully slow pace and feels a lot longer than it actually is. Paul Kaye, who used to be the Sacha Baron Cohen of the 90′s, could not even save this film. His comic talents are wasted here. It is such a shame as Bristol is a city full of creative and talented people and a lot of potential. If independent films are being supported as much as this one has, one day, a new film will be made here which this city will be truly proud of.Check out my film blog - www.projectionistreview.wordpress.com