Tempbot (2006)

Director:

Neill Blomkamp

Writer:

Mark Fitzloff (writer)

Genre:

Short | Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot Keywords:

One Word Title

Cast

Kirsten Robek
Patricia Idlette
Balinder Johal
Trevor Cawood
Kirk Karasin
Lynda Carter	...	Mary Alice

Runtime:

15 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Spy Films

An Interesting Look at Alienation in the Workplace

The short film "Tempbot" by Neill Blomkamp is an interesting examination of the alienation experienced by temporary workers at office places across America. The film follows a 'tempbot', a robot assigned for a short period of time at an ordinary office, and his romantic endeavours with the Human Resources manager. The interesting thing about the film is that the fact that the main character is a robot is of the least importance in the film, because it shows that workers in offices treat temps as less-than-human. The film just takes the analogy literally and makes the character a robot to further illustrate the point. The best part of the film is the special effects which are flawlessly incorporated with the real images. Blomkamp has a special talent for weaving the CGI into realistic settings and making the viewer comfortable with the idea of these fantastical creations (in this case robots) thus it doesn't detract from the film. The film doesn't necessarily have any weaknesses, it just doesn't amaze. Overall it is worth the fifteen minutes it takes to watch and is another visually remarkable film from Neill Blomkamp.