R 1991 ‧ Drama/Comedy ‧ 2h 9m
Dir: Jim Jarmusch
Cab drivers, in the US and elsewhere.
Release date: May 2, 1992 (New York)
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Music composed by: Tom Waits
Screenplay: Jim Jarmusch
Cinematography: Frederick Elmes
Category Archives: Genre
Night on Earth
9to5: The Story of a Movement
2020 1h 29min | Documentary | 1 February 2021 (USA)
They couldn’t kill their bosses, so they did the next best thing—they organized.
When Dolly Parton sang “9 to 5,” she was doing more than just shining a light on the fate of American working women. Parton was singing the true story of a movement that started with 9to5, a group of Boston secretaries in the early 1970s. Their goals were simple—better pay, more advancement opportunities, and an end to sexual harassment—but their unconventional approach attracted the press and shamed their bosses into change. Featuring interviews with 9to5’s founders, as well as actor and activist Jane Fonda, 9to5: The Story of a Movement is the previously untold story of the fight that inspired a hit and changed the American workplace.
Film website Director: Julia Reichert
julia@donet.com
Night Shift
1982
Comedy/Sex comedy ‧ 1h 46m
Chuck (Henry Winkler) has given up life as a stockbroker because it was too stressful. Now, he works an easy gig as a night shift attendant at a New York City morgue. His co-worker, Bill Blazejowski (Michael Keaton), on the other hand, is always looking to make a quick buck. When Bill finds out that Chuck’s prostitute neighbor, Belinda (Shelley Long), needs a place to do her work, he convinces Chuck to turn the morgue into a brothel where they can work as her pimps.
Release date: July 30, 1982 (USA)
Director: Ron Howard
Screenplay: Babaloo Mandel, Lowell Ganz
Music composed by: Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, David Foster
(NYT) This Ron Howard comedy takes the mantra “Do what you love” to some zany and enterprising places. The high-concept idea is a slam dunk (two guys run a prostitution ring out of a morgue), but its stars, Henry Winkler and Michael Keaton, bring so much charm to their odd-couple roles that they move them beyond cliché. While the movie has plenty of ’80s sex comedy silliness (and songs by Burt Bacharach), its pimps (or “love brokers,” as Keaton’s character calls them) take a respectful career-style approach to sex work, seeing that their employees get health and dental insurance, while also giving them an ownership stake in a fast-food restaurant. A 401(k) may not be far behind. MEKADO MURPHY
The Price of Free (Kailash)
Kailash (original title)
1h 32min | Documentary | 2 November 2018 (USA)
The story of how Kailash Satyarthi launched a built a global movement to rescue children from slavery.
Entire film available online here
Initial release: January 18, 2018
The Great Strike 1917
Trailer
70 minutes.
Documentary about events which shaped Australian society and the labor movement for a century and beyond.
Synopsis
Thousands had stopped work, the government recruited volunteers to break the strike, allowing them to bear arms; unions were deregistered and union leaders charged with conspiracy. It was a time of violent emotions, state violence and individual acts of violence by and against strikers. A striker was shot and killed. A filmmaker had his film embargoed. It was Sydney, 1917.
The world was in the grip of “The Great War”. Rail and tram employees had been forced to work longer hours, with reduced wages and conditions. With the introduction of a new American ‘timecard’ system, tramway and railway workers in inner Sydney walked off the job in protest, triggering the strike.
The stoppage became the biggest industrial upheaval Australia has seen before or since. At its height the strike stopped coastal shipping, mining, stevedoring and transport, and involved tens of thousands of workers in Australia’s eastern states.
Despite being a crushing defeat at the time, it had lasting consequences for the Australian labor movement. It was 100 years ago, but personal stories rarely spoken about were to filter through, reflecting on both the trauma and the positive legacy of the event, which still strongly resonate today.
Mandy King
cavadini@tpg.com.au
M: 0410 633 503
Life on the Line
2015 ‧ Drama/Action ‧ 1h 37m
After a family tragedy, Beau Ginner rises to be foreman in a Texas lineman team, upgrading overhead power cables and preventing disasters. However, there is friction when his college-bound niece Bailey’s on-off boyfriend Duncan joins the crew, while another new recruit is hiding PTSD symptoms.
Release date: 2016 (USA)
Director: David Hackl
Music composed by: Jeff Toyne
Executive producers: Chad Dubea, Rosa Morris Peart, Shawn Williamson, Bryant Pike, Jamie Goehring
Producers: Phillip Glasser, Marvin Peart
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/18/movies/life-on-the-line-review-john-travolta-kate-bosworth.html
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/life-on-the-line-2016
Nightcaller
Director: Alexander Humilde
2018; 6m
“In the urban jungle of Manila, the call centre capital of the world, anonymous call centre agents from Manila spill the beans on the Philippines’ most in-demand job. Their stories reveal prevalent truths about the effects of rapid westernization, all of which take place just on the other side of our phone calls.”
Alexander Humilde’s Nightcaller documentary debuts on Air Canada flights
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