Just as Bruce Springsteen once sang, "we learned more from a three minute record than we ever learned in school," THE ELEVATOR MANAGER OF THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING may well be the greatest film ever to deal with working a mundane job. The words "14 years..." echo over and over as the elevator manager of the Empire State Building responds when asked how many years he has operated the elevator in the famed building. In less than two minutes, we see the elevator travel in both directions, and it feels as though the film takes forever. What a masterful way of making time feel extended through the magic of skilled film-making! Yet, the video's length is probably less than the time it takes to ride up to the building's top floor. The elevator manager admits that he does this job for the pay, and not for the experience. This very well may be the greatest film ever about working a mundane job. If anyone ever feels a lack of fulfillment at work, then perhaps there is a little bit of an elevator manager of the Empire State Building in all of us.
