The Sickie

This is a short film that can be seen on a DVD of award-winning shorts from around the world from the Film Movement Series. For several years now, Film Movement has been bringing out a yearly compilation of shorts in place of their usual monthly feature film release. This is from the January, 2008 collection.

This is a somewhat engaging story of an over-worked and under-appreciated office manager. The work is obviously quite tiring and his being seen as so invaluable takes its toll--as he seems ready to snap. However, when he pretends to be sick so he can rest and relax (something he surely deserves), he's just too uptight to do anything but compulse about his work.

There are several things I liked about the film. First, the guy they chose to play Douglas was a very quirky looking guy and the hair and expression helped to heighten this. Also, the main idea was clever. However, the film seemed a bit too short (which is often the case with many short films) and I would have liked to see the story hashed out more. Still, a decent effort and I'd like to see more from the people who made THE SICKIE.