Clockwatchers
Director: Jill Sprecher Run Time: 96 min. Format: DCP Rating: PG 13 Release Year: 1997
Starring: Toni Collette, Parker Posey, Lisa Kudrow, Alanna Ubach
The Future of Film is Female continues its year-long celebration of 90s cinema with a screening of Jill Sprecher’s CLOCKWATCHERS. To make an additional $10 donation to The Future of Film is Female, select the “Event + Donation” ticket on the checkout screen.
“This is a rare film about the way people actually live. It’s about the new world of security cameras, Muzak, cubicle life and hoarding office supplies. “Try not to make too many mistakes,” a new temp worker is told. “These forms are expensive.” When she botches some forms, she throws them out in the ladies’ room to hide her crime. The toilet, indeed, is the only sanctuary in a big office: the refuge, the retreat, the confessional. Only when your underwear is off can you find a space to call your own.
CLOCKWATCHERS was written by two sisters, Jill and Karen Sprecher, and directed by Jill. I don’t have to be psychic to know they’ve worked as office temps. The Coen, Hughes and Wachowski brothers make movies about crime and passion, and so do the Sprecher sisters, but their violence is more brutal and direct, like stealing the precious rubber-band ball of Art, the anal-retentive guy in charge of the office supplies.” —Roger Ebert, May 22, 1998