Drudge Work

 

DRUGSTORE JUNE (B+) - If the title "Clueless" hadn't already been taken, it would have perfectly suited this manic romp about a would-be social-media influencer who helps investigate a break-in at the drugstore where she works (to use the term loosely). Esther Povitsky, who co-wrote the script, is very funny as a hare-brained 20-something whose existence is stitched together by a continuous series of perceived microagressions against her.

Povitsky carries the film by her sheer energy, as she finds a troubled soul within her airhead persona to make us care about June's frivolous life. The one-liners fly by (June says, "I don't like the word 'horny,' so I say 'hot 'n' ready' instead because it sounds cuter and it reminds me of pizza"), and the plot zips along with an amusing wit. June, a junk-food junkie and struggling video wannabe (she is constantly performing for her June Squad), is stuck emotionally on Davey (Haley Joel Osment), her ex-boyfriend from their shared land of fast-food joints. She slacks off as an assistant to the drugstore pharmacist (Bobby Lee), and she annoys the detectives when she insists on trying to solve the break-in.

The supporting cast is top-notch, including Jackie Sandler and Al Madrigal as the detectives, Beverly D'Angelo and James Remar as June's parents, Brandon Wardell as her slacker gamer brother, and Matt Walsh as a hoodlum. But it is Povitsky who terrorizes the screen as the entitled millennial whose mind is warped by the modern internet world. Director (and co-writer) Nicholaus Goossen rides this bucking bronco and corrals it all into 91 entertaining minutes. Like June, turn off your brain and enjoy the ride. It's a lot of fun.

UNREST (B-minus) - It often feels like this period curiosity is on the brink of being profound or revelatory. But the polemic about workers just kind of plods along while staying just fascinating enough to lure you through to the end. It's the first full-length feature from Swiss writer-director Cyril Schaublin, who spends too much time trying to be artsy, at the expense of telling a consistently compelling story.

Set in the late 1800s, "Unrest," which borrows that term from watch-making, tells the story of a Russian map-maker, Pyotr (Alexei Evstratov), who visits a small Swiss town that is home to a watch factory. At the factory, workers are radicalized in the era of open anarchism, as their work is hyper-scrutinized by bosses literally standing over their shoulders wielding stopwatches as the workers meticulously assemble pocket watches. The workers mostly speak French, and management converses in German, which suggests an us-vs.-them mentality.

The main worker is Josephine (Clara Gostynski), and she will cross paths with Pyotr. There are some interesting ideas at work here, especially the various aspects of technology of the time that echo into our modern world. The use of the telegraph parallels our use of email; Pyotr is essentially a beta version of Google Maps; and a new compact alarm clock is unveiled as if it were the latest iPhone. 

But Schaublin's visual choices are perpetually frustrating, especially his insistence on shooting scenes from a long distance. In some scenes you can't tell which small figure in the frame is talking. At times the "action" in the frame gets dwarfed by subtitles. It's annoying, and it trips up the narrative, which never really coheres. 

But there is something here, and "Unrest," fractured as it is, stakes a claim in the pantheon of films about workers' rights. If you are willing to put in your own effort and help stitch the ideas together, it's fun to watch a moment in history that seemed to be on the brink of a modern world of technological marvels.