The Parking Lot Movie (2010)

My summary, "A film about otherwise unemployable misfits " is a quote from one of the participants. When you see the whole thing, and realize that some of the former employees are quite successful professionals, you realize that was just one man's view, perhaps even a 'tongue in cheek' view.The subject parking lot is somewhat small, in Charlottesville near the university campus. A ticket is vended as a vehicle enters, but upon exit must interact with a person to pay, the subject "Parking Lot Attendant. " The owner has run this lot since 1986, or 26 years at the time of filming.The films runs about 65 minutes, and is mostly very interesting, followed by 5 minutes of credits featuring a very inventive rap video on the theme of the parking lot itself, complete with broken wooden gate bars. It also has a montage near the end explaining where each of the featured attendants are today.The film covers a number of subjects but the one most interesting to me deals with how these attendants view the world as represented by the parking clients. Those who don't want to pay, or who vomit in the lot after a night of drinking, or the complaints about the big SUVs that take up so much room. Thinks like that.Truly a "slice of life" as framed by the parking lot and all that happens in around it. Good film, not too long, not too short.

This documentary is just a one-hour long rant, the usual 'outcasts are better than you' cliché from indie movies.The guys working at the Parking Lot aren't really better than the preppies they dislike so much, and the tirade about rich and unpleasant daddy's boys and girls driving SUVs and making in one year the money the parking lot attendant will make in his whole life reeks of sour grapes, frustration and reversed classism.Sure, who doesn't despise arrogant jerks who live on daddy's money... but on the other hand it's not a good reason to be equally obnoxious. I can't see much difference between the annoying brats who, as the movie put it, "think they're hot *bleep* because they drive daddy's car" and the parking lot attendants who think they're hot *bleep* because they have a Ph.D. and feel they're rebelling against society.The parking lot attendants come off as pretentious, wannabe-intellectuals who try to pass off their shortcomings as a 'way of life', even as a voluntary exile from the 'outside world'. But in truth I find it hard to buy such idea... I can't help but thinking the whole thing is a self-comforting facade, a way to cope with unfulfilled expectations.At one point one of them say "you get paid to do nothing!", so it makes me wonder a bit... Are those overqualified intellectualoids working at the parking lot because it's a non-competitive job, where they're paid to sit and read or listen to music and goof around? Are they rebelling (in a pretty inane way) to capitalism or are they just a bunch of Peter Pans who refused to grow up and take responsibility, so they just live in their little world where they are Somebody and nobody questions them?To be honest I've always struggled to get the 'Slacker pride' many indie movies have celebrated over the years...As a whole, the movie is just boring and not remotely as funny as many reviews made it to be. I can't even relate to them, not because I'm a SUV-driving no-good frat-boy (which I'm not), but because if I'll ever find myself stuck in a rut like that, I would really struggle to feel so proud about it.The Parking Lot Movie is an exercise in self-importance, self-indulgence and unjustified smugness.An obnoxious manifesto of the underachievers who are proud to be underachievers (and afraid to prove themselves)Hell, if you're so smart and educated, quit that job and go earn thousands of dollars a month... So you can get back at the preppies on their own ground instead of making petty remarks while exerting your Parking Lot Attendant powers.

Well not that I would foolhardily give away any spoilers I think the title does a good job of doing that..This movie is about a parking lot.. takes place in a parking lot.. and does not leave the parking lot. While it wasn't the longest documentary I have seen, it seemed like it. The camera work was decent and the story line was actually amusing. The first twenty minutes or so I was skeptical yet.. I still ended up watching the movie in its entirety. I must say that the movie gave me a momentary euphoric feeling but not one that could compare to lets say.. Shrek.If you don't have anything else to watch.. this will help pass the time.

This is a funny, breezy look at an odd little parking lot with an odd little crew of undergrads, grad, and grad students, all biding their time while pursuing their various interests. The lot is located near the University of Virginia and right behind a stretch of bars, which guarantees plenty of obnoxious, privileged, entitled jerks who drive $100,000 cars and are outraged at the thought of paying a couple of bucks to park them.The attendants deal with it all in a way that's quirky and funny. They're treated as the lowest of the low (some customers delight in pitching their payments on the ground; some just crash the gate) and giving out a little hostility as well.(One attendant always engages the emergency break when parking cars, ostensibly for safety but actually in hope that the driver will neglect to disengage it.)I saw this as an episode of the PBS series Independent Lens, and it looks like it was a somewhat edited version, as it ran under an hour. Still, I can't see how another 30 minutes of these proud misfits wouldn't be welcome.A good time, and a reminder that documentaries need not be too serious.