Haiku Tunnel (2001)

Josh has an offer to "go perm" at his employer and the first task is to mail 17 high priority letters....something that seems a little difficult to do.

Directors:

Jacob Kornbluth, Josh Kornbluth

Writers:

Josh Kornbluth, Jacob Kornbluth

Stars:

Josh Kornbluth, Warren Keith, Sarah Overman

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Josh Kornbluth	...	Josh Kornbluth
Warren Keith	...	Bob 'Bob' Shelby
Sarah Overman	...	Julie Faustino
Leah Alperin	...	Temp #1
Jacob Kornbluth	...	Temp #2
Stephen Muller	...	Temp #3
Linda Norton	...	Temp #4
Helen Shumaker	...	Marlina D'Amore
Amy Resnick	...	Mindy
Brian Thorstenson	...	Clifford
June Carryl	...	DaVonne (as June Lomena)
Joanne Evangelista	...	Caryl
Jennifer Laske	...	Helen the Ex-Girlfriend
Patricia Scanlon	...	Helen the Ex-Secretary
Joe Bellan	...	Jimmy the Mail Clerk

Storyline

Haiku Tunnel is a frenetic office comedy about a neurotic male secretary who is a terrific temp but a horrible perm. When his new boss (a tax attorney who just may be Satan) gives him 17 very important letters to mail out, he doesn't, and the ensuing complications bring him face-to-face with a lifetime of personal demons.

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Plot Keywords:

boss | secretary | office | corporate world | based on monologue | 

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Taglines:

An office comedy

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and some sexuality

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 January 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

I'm Just a Secretary

Filming Locations:

Oakland, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$35,386, 16 September 2001, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$251,058, 30 December 2001

Company Credits

Production Co:

B9 Films, Hello Hooker Productions, Mike's Movies

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The director's lack of frog anatomy knowledge resulted in the eyeglasses for the frog eventually being jury-rigged with a paper clip and rubber band.

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Goofs

When going through the instructions left for Helen, Joshua says it is "Eleven and a half single-spaced pages", but the document is double-spaced.

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Quotes

Bob 'Bob' Shelby: Go back to your desk. Settle down. Focus. And catch up.

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Crazy Credits

At the end of the credits we hear a voiceover of Bob Shelby's dictating a letter

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Alternate Versions

DVD includes outtakes and six deleted scenes:

• Medieval Marlina: a 'secretarial simulation' showing Marlina dressed in medieval garb;
• Neurotic Adventurer: on his way to the Pine building, Josh has a flashback of himself in college;
• Apology: more footage of Josh trying to convinge the guard to let him enter the Pine building;
• Politeness: Josh complains about Bob Shelby's constant politeness;
• Fatelets: Josh delivers a monologue while having sex with Julia;
• Coda: epilogue showing Josh bicycling up on a mountain. He meets Darlene, and they ride away together on her motorcycle.

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Connections

Features Have You Got Any Castles? (1938)

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Soundtracks

L'oiseau de feu
(The Firebird)
Igor Stravinsky

User Reviews

Well done, despite critical reviews...

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.