(re)Search my Trash

<body> <div align="left"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="800" cellpadding="0" height="100%"> <tr> <td width="100" rowspan="2" background="../stylepix/square.gif" valign="top">  </td> <td width="4" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="592" valign="top"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="592"> <tr> <td width="100%">  </td> </tr> </table>    <table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="205" align="right"> <tr> <td width="100%"> <p align="right"><img border="0" src="../stills/nightjob-poster.jpg" width="200" height="304"></td> </tr> </table> <p>It's James' (Jason Torres) first day as a night doorman at a fancy Manhattan apartment building, and for all he knew, there couldn't be a less stressfree job than this - after all, what's supposed to happen at night, right? Sure, his boss (Larese King) told him he is to expect the occasional homeless trespasser, but that's something that can be taken care of. But this is of course Manhattan, where time never stands still, so it seems half the inhabitants of the building have decided to fight out their relationship issues at night - in the lobby. And while James does his best to keep things civil, nobody expects him to be a mediator, really - just a punching bag. Also, there's no shortage of tenants arriving home drunk after partying, the occasional exorcist (Robert Youngren), an old eccentric woman giving unasked advice (Bettina Skye), a girl (Stacey Weckstein) showing mercy to James by kissing him when he needs it the most, other nightshift workers (Lester Greene, Hardy Calderon, Jose Espinal) who claim to sympathize but then show more interest in getting him high on coffee and hard liquor than anything else, while James' colleague, the night porter (Greg Kritikos), does his best to make himself scarce. And once James thinks he has got the worst behind himself, one of the homeless tresspassers (Brignel Camilien) shows up ...<p> <p>If you expect a clear narrative structure with a handful easily discernable characters and a clear beginning, middle and end, you'll no doubt be disappointed, as <b>Night Job</b> has little of either - but that doesn't make it a bad film, quite the contrary, this is a fun series of vignettes in which many a great actor (the cast's uniformly top notch) gets the chance to own the scene for a few minutes and play out a mini drama (or mini comedy), just to drive our poor doorman (the only constant in the movie) even more out of his mind - and it works so well because the whole film is <i>not</i> (as narrative conventions would suggest) driving towards one climax but treats things with subtlety, making this an enjoyable mix of Woody Allen and Robert Altman, <b>Four Rooms</b> and <b>Clerks</b>, but with enough creativity behind it to make a totally original film out of this blend! <p>  </td> <td width="4" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="100" rowspan="2" background="../stylepix/squareright.gif" valign="top">  </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="592" valign="top">  <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"> currentyear = "2016"; </SCRIPT> <SCRIPT language="JavaScript" src="../scripts/endcredits.js"></SCRIPT> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"> dosworsdonn(); </SCRIPT> </td> </tr> </table> </div> </body>