Three young men, freshly graduated from college, donning their cap and gown, ride their skateboards on a city sidewalk. A well-groomed businessman approaches the boys, asking for help with an unknown task. Of the three, only one, Michael (Andrew Lutheran), is willing… after the man offers fifty bucks.
The businessman leads Michael to a particular concrete square on the sidewalk and instructs him to stand there until 5:30 pm that day. Michael does so with ease, and the man offers him a full-time job to stand inside that same square every day. Michael accepts… and time goes by.
“…offers him a full-time job to stand inside that same square every day…”
Full Time by writer/director Jon Ryan Sugimoto is a short film that serves as a not-so-subtle analogy for working in a corporate world. The square that Michael stands inside of day after day representing an office or the corporate working world at large, you take your pick. He is paid to simply follow directions, even when no one is looking.
Sugimoto proves that a cleverly crafted premise in a film can have a significant, meaningful impact regardless of the run time. The visual of Michael standing on a sidewalk in a square is powerfully mundane, quite literally trading his time for money. The feeling of being boxed in, trapped in a dead-end job, is a relatable one if you’ve lived long enough. Though the film is brief, its message is compelling.
Full Time is available for streaming on the Omeleto YouTube channel.
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