The Efficiency Expert

Even thinking briefly of this film and I end up humming this tune all day just like Carey's Dad. If you love films which are truly character-driven and sublime in the details, then this film will delight you. You may even begin to see the romance in sitting looking out over an oil refinery or the expertise demanded for racing slot-cars. What a little gem.

This film shows us a slice of Australian work life as globalisation takes over. The workers in a small shoe factory, having grown up with the "job for life" paradigm, are examined by an efficiency expert called in by the boss, a man who wants to "modernise" without cutting staff.

Many well-known Australian actors appear in this film. It is a gentle and sympathetic look at the effects of economic change. The film also has comic moments where adolescent boys try to ask out a good-looking girl without much success.

This film is not a "must-see", but it passes the time acceptably.

i bought this at a dollar store along with some other pretty good DVD double features,the efficiency expert and Eliza's horoscope which i have'nt seen yet.i took a look at the cast and said looks like a good movie.Anthony Hopkins,Russell crowe,Toni Collette,and Angela punch McGregor who i knew from the movie;the island 1980.anyway they send efficiency expert(Hopkins)out to a moccasin factory to check how its being run.and he gets to know all the workers and their lives and such. Russell crowe and Toni Collette both in early roles.Anthony Hopkins is a great actor and makes the movie interesting,its take on a small factory and the people that work there.but for a buck its a real bargain.as double features go sometimes one is good the other not too good,not always the case.but if you venture into a dollar store,look through the dollar dvds.you may find some good ones like i did. i give efficiency expert 8 out of 10.good movie.

Who knew Hannibal Lector could be so subtly funny and filled with pathos. Hopkns turns in a marvelous role of the efficiency consultant who thinks nothing of recommending that half a work force be fired for better profits. Then he visits a down and out shoe company and meets his match in the Mendelshohn and Kurts characters and the rest of their workmates. Indeed, Kurts steals the film as the owner who lives back then and hopes that his efficiency expert can get him and his factory into the modern era, but does not expect it to be as brutal and painful as it is.

Kudos to all. If you want a droll comedy that gives remarkable insight into the human dilemma, rent this. You will not regret it. In closing, pay close attention to how Hopkins portrays a plethora of emotions with only his facial and non verbal reactions. He is a genius!

As an American who lived in Australia for about 3 years, I found that this film captured a lot of "Australianisms" that are hard to pinpoint, but are definitely from the Australian culture and different than the US culture. Probably the most noticeable to me was the worker vs management mentality that is so much more exaggerated in Oz. One of the most ironic things I found about their culture was how much they protested that, unlike England, there was no class system down under. But, to me as an outsider it seemed very class driven but instead of upper and lower classes they were blue collar and white collar.

Overall a touching film which I always wonder how much is going right over the heads of Americans.