A fictitious Vancouver film crew documents the professional life of a parking enforcement officer.A fictitious Vancouver film crew documents the professional life of a parking enforcement officer.A fictitious Vancouver film crew documents the professional life of a parking enforcement officer.
- Awards
- 5 wins & 4 nominations
Diana Pavlovská
- Olena Polapov
- (as Diana Pavlovska)
Harry Rob Bruner
- Dispatcher
- (as Rob Bruner)
Tony Conte
- Jerome Huot
- (as Tony Conté)
Storyline
Did you know
- Crazy creditsThe characters and events portrayed in this motion picture are entirely fictional. Any similarity to actual persons or events is purely unintentional. Except for Bob - he's based on Blake Corbet. And the scene where he's dancing - that was based on the time that Blake was dancing at the Mile Zero (2001) wrap party. Everything else we made up. Honest.
- SoundtracksJ'Ai Besoin De Toi
Performed and Written by The Holograms
Used under license from The Holograms
Featured review
Mockumentary as a viable comedic genre was first hinted at by Woody Allen in ZELIG in 1983, more concretely defined the following year by Rob Reiner in THIS IS SPINAL TAP and then made into an art form by SPINAL TAP star Christopher Guest in his recent films, most notably WAITING FOR GUFFMAN (1997). THE DELICATE ART OF PARKING is Reel 13's Canadian effort along those same lines and while it doesn't measure to the standards of those other films, it does boast a moderate amount of cleverness and manages to be mildly entertaining for 90 minutes.
At the midpoint of the film, they introduce a "plot" to the film within the film in which a meter maid guru is viciously attacked by an irate ticketed citizen. This is a little distracting and probably unnecessary, but it goes on to dominate the rest of the film. They were doing fine by just doing portraits of these inane characters and the apparent futility of their occupations. Also, it feels a little contrived that such a dramatic thing would conveniently happen in the middle of a documentary about these characters. It seems to belie the mockumentary structure that was chosen. If you wanted to incorporate a complicated plot, just do a plain old-fashioned comedy and spare us the gimmicks.
With that said, the actors in the film are all very talented and do a great job fleshing out their respective characters. Of particular note is Nancy Robertson as the acid-tongued Harriet Sharpe and Fred Ewanuick as the die-hard parking attendant Grant, who revolves his whole life around his seemingly meaningless job. The level of detail these actors present about their characters is reminiscent of the work done by some of the Christopher Guest ensemble, like Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy. Their characters have an element of silliness to them, but they feel so real and full that they work perfectly within the parameters of the mockumentary genre.
You're probably sensing my ambivalence about the film, which is pretty much true. I often find it difficult to fall in love with comedies in general because most of them are throwing jokes at you non-stop, but most are only truly funny for a part of the time. So, like the other film this week ONE, TWO, THREE - even if a film makes you laugh a few times, that means it is probably failing to make you laugh the rest of the time, which lessens the overall impact of the film. THE DELICATE ART OF PARKING is a perfect example. While it is never riotous, it has a great deal of charm and good intentions. The very idea of a mockumentary about meter maids is funny by itself, even if it has very few moments of hilarity.
(For more on this or any other Reel 13 film, check out their website at www.reel13.org)
At the midpoint of the film, they introduce a "plot" to the film within the film in which a meter maid guru is viciously attacked by an irate ticketed citizen. This is a little distracting and probably unnecessary, but it goes on to dominate the rest of the film. They were doing fine by just doing portraits of these inane characters and the apparent futility of their occupations. Also, it feels a little contrived that such a dramatic thing would conveniently happen in the middle of a documentary about these characters. It seems to belie the mockumentary structure that was chosen. If you wanted to incorporate a complicated plot, just do a plain old-fashioned comedy and spare us the gimmicks.
With that said, the actors in the film are all very talented and do a great job fleshing out their respective characters. Of particular note is Nancy Robertson as the acid-tongued Harriet Sharpe and Fred Ewanuick as the die-hard parking attendant Grant, who revolves his whole life around his seemingly meaningless job. The level of detail these actors present about their characters is reminiscent of the work done by some of the Christopher Guest ensemble, like Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy. Their characters have an element of silliness to them, but they feel so real and full that they work perfectly within the parameters of the mockumentary genre.
You're probably sensing my ambivalence about the film, which is pretty much true. I often find it difficult to fall in love with comedies in general because most of them are throwing jokes at you non-stop, but most are only truly funny for a part of the time. So, like the other film this week ONE, TWO, THREE - even if a film makes you laugh a few times, that means it is probably failing to make you laugh the rest of the time, which lessens the overall impact of the film. THE DELICATE ART OF PARKING is a perfect example. While it is never riotous, it has a great deal of charm and good intentions. The very idea of a mockumentary about meter maids is funny by itself, even if it has very few moments of hilarity.
(For more on this or any other Reel 13 film, check out their website at www.reel13.org)
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Тонкое искусство парковки
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $944,149 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $213,008
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $15,859
- Apr 4, 2004
- Gross worldwide
- $213,008
- Runtime1 hour 30 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
Top Gap
By what name was The Delicate Art of Parking (2003) officially released in Canada in English?
Answer