The Job

The pleasant whiff of neorealist traditions that Olmi provided with this and two other films at the turn of the fifties and sixties in Italy may be interesting for the Czech viewer also because it was here that the later great Miloš Forman was massively inspired in his beginnings. The Job follows neorealism mainly through the use of amateur actors, filming in real locations and a semi-documentary approach that creates an authentic image of the Italian working class of the time. It’s not a social critique, but merely a reflection on the new possibilities of a more evolved bureaucratic society, and in that respect I am a bit disappointed by the lack of a more substantial plot into which I could immerse myself and, together with the protagonist, experience the story in a participatory way. Formally, it’s a finely tuned piece of work, but unlike neorealist bastions like The Bicycle Thieves, it doesn't have much to offer today's audience. 75% (12/12/2017)

A perfectly captured introduction to the life of an ordinary boy. The film features, side by side and at the same time together, incredibly simply and humanly filmed scenes of two young people getting closer and the young man's first encounters with work and responsibility, as well as cold and objective scenes of administrative machinery, work hierarchy, and alienation in exchange for a livelihood. Yet it comes with a joyless reflection of reality in which people try to live their hopes, expectations, joys, and sorrows in the background and under the baton of a foreign outside world, which they do not have any control over (for example, the influence of the initial work placement of two potential lovers on their subsequent relationship; the personal lives of colleagues from the office do not play any role on their own and they only become important in relation to the functioning of the workplace: or rather, the empty table...). A simple style that is sober, and unpretentious, yet absorbing and affecting to the core. (22/01/2014)