Top 10 Offices-In-Cinema

14.08.2016 , James , Drifting Clouds Cinema Blog

Offices. In cinema they tend to be private places where power is exercised on the unfortunate. Or, they’re grim, formal prisons where the schmuck, the schnook, the schmo, is locked in spiritual chains, his individuality sublimated by the will of the mighty employer. In the office, he becomes just another brick in the wall. Offices in cinema then, rarely bode well for the little man.

Thanks to all those who suggested titles. Many excellent titles had to be excluded again, including; Taxi Driver, Mon Oncle and Glengarry Glen Ross.

In no particular order.

PlayTime (Jacques Tati, 1967)
Jacques Tati’s gloriously choreographed, nearly wordless comedies about confusion in an age of high technology reached their apotheosis with PlayTime. For this monumental achievement, a nearly three-year-long, bank-breaking production, Tati again thrust the lovably old-fashioned Monsieur Hulot, along with a host of other lost souls, into a baffling modern world, this time Paris. With every inch of its superwide frame crammed with hilarity and inventiveness, PlayTime is a lasting record of a modern era tiptoeing on the edge of oblivion. Criterion. Suggested by @UnEnfantPerdu

The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1946)
A film noir, the first version of Raymond Chandler’s 1939 novel of the same name. The movie stars Humphrey Bogart as private detective Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall as Vivian Rutledge in a story about the “process of a criminal investigation, not its results.”[5] William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett, and Jules Furthman co-wrote the screenplay. Wikipedia. @neroblckschwrz nominated this.

Army Of Shadows (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1964)
This masterpiece by Jean-Pierre Melville about the French Resistance went unreleased in the United States for thirty-seven years, until its triumphant theatrical debut in 2006. Atmospheric and gripping, Army of Shadows is Melville’s most personal film, featuring Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Cassel, and the incomparable Simone Signoret as intrepid underground fighters who must grapple with their conception of honor in their battle against Hitler’s regime. Criterion.

The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960)
An insurance worker lends out his apartment to company executives for their extramarital affairs in the hopes of a promotion, but things become complicated when one of the mistresses turns out to be a coworker he has eyes for. MUBI. Suggested by @enroboh, @normamason, @dara2c,

The Rebel (Robert Day, 1961)
Tony Hancock plays a downtrodden London office clerk who gives up his office job to pursue full-time his vocation as an artist. Single mindedly, and with an enthusiasm far exceeding any artistic talent, he moves to Paris. Art critics scoff at his efforts, until the work of his former roommate, a talented artist, is confused as his own. Wikipedia. Nominated by @BigDen14, @nextlevelpope and Le Jazz Cat.

Il Posto (Ermanno Olmi, 1961)
When young Domenico (Sandro Panseri) ventures from the small village of Meda to Milan in search of employment, he finds himself on the bottom rung of the bureaucratic ladder in a huge, faceless company. The prospects are daunting, but Domenico finds reason for hope in the fetching Antonietta (Loredana Detto). A tender coming-of-age story and a sharp observation of dehumanizing corporate enterprise, Ermanno Olmi’s Il posto is a touching and hilarious tale of one young man’s stumbling entrance into the perils of modern adulthood. Criterion. Nominated by @enroboh

The Trial (Orson Welles, 1962)
Josef K wakes up in the morning and finds the police in his room. They tell him that he is on trial but nobody tells him what he is accused of. In order to find out about the reason of this accusation and to protest his innocence, he tries to look behind the facade of the judicial system… MUBI. Thanks to @UnEnfantPerdu

Performance (Nicholas Roeg, Donald Cammell, 1970)
Set in 1960s London, James Fox plays Chas, a bisexual gangster on the run from his colleagues who is trying to disguise himself so that he can slip out of England. Chas finds a vast Notting Hill townhouse occupied by burned-out ex-pop-star Turner (Mick Jagger). MUBI. Suggested by @lyndoncollier

The Crowd (King Vidor, 1928)
The life of a man and woman together in a large, impersonal metropolis through their hopes, struggles and downfalls. MUBI. Suggested by @SkotArmstrong

Nineteen Eighty Four (Michael Radford, 1984)
A British dystopian drama film, based upon George Orwell’s novel of the same name. Starring John Hurt, Richard Burton, Suzanna Hamilton, and Cyril Cusack, the film follows the life of Winston Smith in Oceania, a country run by a totalitarian government. Wikipedia. @neroblckschwrz and @cherry_red186 picked this one.