The best part of working a horrible job is complaining about it. Family members, friends, coworkers, and strangers in line with you for coffee—it doesn’t matter who;nothing hits quite like kvetching about your horrible workplace after a long day.Food service workers haveWaiting, journalists haveThe Devil Wears Prada, and office workers haveOffice Space. But another film that highlights the casual drudgery of the contemporary workplace is somewhat obscureBartleby.Bartlebyis a 2001 absurdist comedy based on the short story “Bartleby the Scrivener” byMoby DickauthorHerman Melville. Following the titular Bartleby (Crispin Glover) as his oddities begin to grate on The Boss (David Paymer),Bartlebycaptures the exact late capitalist malaise that plagues the modern workplace.
‘Bartleby’ Is Relatable
Bartleby’s strangely rigid routine and continual shirking of his dutiesmight read as odd to some—and he is a bit weird. But there’s something very relatable about him. His repeated catchphrase of “I would prefer not to” might irk his coworkers, but anyone who’s worked a dead-end job knows theapathy that can creep into office life. Themonotony of your actual job duties clashes with the strange office politicsyou’re expecting to navigate—all the while, you spend most of your waking hours in a stuffy,vaguely hostile office buildingthat probably hasn’t been updated in twenty years. Glover gives one of his oddest performances (which is saying something), but it fitsperfectlywithin the world ofBartleby.
The 25 Best Office Romance K-Dramas, Ranked
The 9-to-5 has never been so dreamy.
And Bartleby’s coworkers are their own kind of entertaining.Bartlebyutilizes a stillness and understated comedytoreally drive home the blandness of the records office it takes place in.A lot of the jokes are subtle (including one that riffs on said records office that makes me full-belly laugh every time). And Bartleby’s coworkers riff off of Bartleby’s awkwardness and each other’s faults, like they themselves are perfect. The boss is a pushover, Ernest (Maury Chaykin) judges Rocky (Joe Piscopo) for his cynicism and womanizing ways, while being so incompetent it’s a wonder he hasn’t been fired. Office secretary Vivian (Glenne Headly) is looking for a way up (or out) and is intent on seducing her way there if she has to. Everyone has their flaws. And yetthe one thing that unites them is their distaste for poor Bartleby. But as sad as it can be to watch them snicker about Bartleby’s oddities, it’s almost understandable. The filmheightens the minor, daily annoyancesof office work to such a ridiculous degree, that you too would bequestioning why your weird coworker is obsessed with the vents.
‘Bartleby’ Has Fantastic Production Design
Bartlebyis also visually striking—it has such an incredibly colorful look,yet one that is so dull and life-sucking to look at.It’s not as though the film is visually uninteresting or even desaturated; it’s that a lot of the colors chosen clash horribly with one another. One of the most consistent colors utilized in the film is this sickly pea soup yellow/green that just looks disgusting—no wonder Bartleby “would prefer not to,“the vibes of this place are rancid.
InBartleby’sabsurdist critique of our car dependency, we get somegorgeousmatte paintings thathighlight the illogical and hostile architecture built around cars in America.While the records office most of the film takes place in gets this flat lighting that almost makes the actors look like 2-dimensional cartoon characters, there are moments ofBartlebythat are lit so dramatically and eerilythat it makes you feel queasy just to look at it.This general off-putting vibe is aided, of course, by the score’s consistent use of the theremin.Bartlebyis a black comedy—and it isveryfunny, but it also flawlessly executesthe general unreality vibeit’s going for. The film can be unpleasant, but that isn’t a critique, for it’s the same awkwardness and unsettling energy a lot of real-life offices have.AndBartlebyis well worth its short runtime.
