Review of Haiku Tunnel

Haiku Tunnel (2001)
Well done, despite critical reviews...
22 September 2003
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.
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