The Parking Lot Movie (2010)

The Parking Lot Movie is a documentary about a singular parking lot in Charlottesville, Virginia. The film follows a select group of parking lot attendants and their strange rite of passage... See full summary »

Director:

Meghan Eckman

Stars:

John Beers, Chris Farina, Tyler Magill

Cast

Credited cast:
John Beers	...	Himself
Chris Farina	...	Himself
Tyler Magill	...	Himself
James McNew	...	Himself
Scott Meiggs	...	Himself
Nate Millington	...	Himself
Mark Schottinger	...	Himself

Storyline

The Parking Lot Movie is a documentary about a singular parking lot in Charlottesville, Virginia. The film follows a select group of parking lot attendants and their strange rite of passage. The eccentric brotherhood of attendants consist of grad students, overeducated philosophers, surly artists, middle-age slackers and more. This self-described "ragtag group of fractured poets" prefer skateboards and bicycles to cars and have at best a tolerant contempt for the people they serve. That's not to say they don't care about anything. They hang out at the lot even in their spare time, shooting the breeze or playing a spirited game of "flip cone," just because...they like it there. They conduct their own private "war" against the elites, the pretentious and obnoxious customers who park their BMWs, Hummers, Suburbans and other vehicles. They study the art of doing nothing and the knack of getting even with rude, SUV-driving dolts who treat them like inferior beings. The gradual devolution ...

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Genres:

Documentary

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Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 August 2010 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Redhouse Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

74 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

4:3 Full Frame

Did You Know?

Quotes

Harper Hellems: It is not unusual to have a crew of 4 or 5 people. and to have a PHD - a professor - parking your car... or a couple of us inferior intellects, could be a couple of masters. More master's degrees than you can shake a stick at.

User Reviews

Not 'Just A Parking Lot'

The Parking Lot Movie covers a group of intellectual social misfits that love the comfort of working in an environment that they can shape to their will, but hate dealing with the society that comes and goes through their business. Watching their interactions with the college surroundings is classic. On one side, you have parking lot employee with a PhD in anthropology, passionately working for minimum wage, and on the other is a drunk sorority girl driving a luxury SUV (assumed to be paid for by her parents), and she's trying to skip out on her four dollar parking fee. Although the entire film essentially takes place in a parking lot, it manages to create quite a bit of social commentary, and really works as a fun and thought provoking film.

I picture The Parking Lot Movie working as a brilliant double bill with The Social Network. If one shows how intelligent outcasts can outclass society by working hard and becoming a powerful billionaire in just six years, the other shows how other intelligent outcasts can be just as happy removing themselves from the equation entirely, shielding themselves in apathy, and outclassing society in an entirely different way. The difference is really just between a Type A and B personalities. As the parking lot owner says: "I really like to hire Type B personalities."

Overall, the content the film ends up being much more engaging than you'd expect. The parking lot itself almost seems like a last bastion of creativity and normalcy in an invading world of mindless consumption. The employees really make it out to be an amusing struggle, and you can't help but root for them. Personally, I can't remember ever feeling closer to a group of people on film, and I'm already recommending this to like-minded thinkers.