"Day9" Gives a Lesson in Dealing with the Boss
"Day9" Gives a Lesson in Dealing with the Boss
Patience is key.
Dear Moviegoers,
As a multi-millionaire manager of day laborers berates his crew, one of whom is teetering on making a life-altering decision, an interesting anecdote about the rock group Red Hot Chili Peppers comes up.
For this man of massive wealth, it was an affront that he paid the band lots of cash to perform at a private party, and “They only played five songs, and three of them sucked!" Surely, in the hot American desert, emotions run as high as the temperature. However, I can only imagine that this boss would’ve made that speech even in the most comfortable settings.
What an ass.
Day9 is the story of four workers doing a job digging out in the desert, for a rich man each of them has had past experiences. On day nine of their dig, each worker expresses their boiling animosity for him, played by Charles Maze. This short film is all his show, despite Maze only being a supporting character. The other four actors, while good, aren’t as interesting as Maze. His character, Dobroth, is an aging menace of a jerk, scolding everyone with specific insults and dirty words. To watch Maze work this magic is such devilish fun.
While being well composed - even using split-diopter shots quite impressively - and making lived-in use of the heated environment and the heated relationship between the employed and the employer, Day9 only ever drifts when Maze isn’t onscreen, and when exposition becomes the one driver of action. The four diggers go over how they met Dobroth, how they don’t like him and wish to wring his neck or worse. That’s basically it until Maze’s Dobroth comes around and gets mad again.
Exposition be damned, the cast is game for turning standard and dull into interesting and chummy. It’s exploited versus exploiter, and there’s more of them than him.
More than fine and better than acceptable, Day9 is good. Very good.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers?
I leave their score up to others. 3.5/5
Day9 should be released sometime soon.
Sincerely Yours in Moviegoing,
