Toronto – Documentaries that are light and funny are quite rare these days, since it’s definitely more meaty as a filmmaker to focus on some unknown social issue taking place in some unknown city in some random third world country. This is why the Parking Lot Movie was so appealing when I saw it on the schedule. The documentary takes a look at the lives of current and former parking attendants who work at the corner parking lot in Charlottesville, Virginia (home of University of Virginia). This parking lot is special because owner Chris Farina does not use a automated system and instead employs a steady cast of misfits and miscasts, most of whom are too overeducated and overqualified to be working at a parking lot (including Yo La Tengo bassist James McNew).
The documentary mostly consists of testimonials of all the attendants coupled with footage of day to day interactions with clients, most of whom look down upon the attendants. Meghan Eckman did a great job with finding quality comments from the attendants and the attendants were all very well spoken and quite humorous.
Definitely recommended if you are looking at having a good time.
Parking Lot Movie plays on the Cumberland Parking lot Rooftop on Thursday, May 6 at 8:00 pm