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Summary: "Go perm, and the firm will pay for your psycho--therapy."
Review: "Haiku Tunnel" is the story of a San Francisco based office temp, Joshua Kornbluth , who accepts yet another job--this time at an upscale lawyer's office. Now Josh is writing a novel, so an office position--with misuse of company time and equipment--represents a wonderful opportunity. On the first day, Josh impresses his boss and the office manager so much, that Josh is offered a 'perm' position. From this point on, things go downhill for Josh. This is a very low-budget film. It stars Joshua Kornbluth; it's directed by Joshua Kornbluth, and the script is written by Joshua Kornbluth. There are moments that work--and moments that don't. The strongest parts of the film occur in the office. Josh the Slacker, and Josh in the middle of office politics are absolutely the best parts. The film falls down in the scenes with Josh talking to the camera--usually in front of an eraser board as he lectures the audience on the many facets of office life. These scenes resemble a one-man-comedy-stand-up routine, and these scenes tend to be un-funny and repetitive. Negativity aside--Haiku Tunnel was mostly original, funny and entertaining. I laughed out loud at several points in the film. I also enjoyed "Office Space", but I found "Haiku Tunnel" to be subtler at its best moments, and slightly clumsier and amateurish at its worst moments--displacedhuman.
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Summary: This is an Original!
Review: "Haiku Tunnel" is the best thing to come along since Charlie Chaplin. An auteur film with the best of live comedy and of film, "HT" has it all: laughs, social commentary, pacing, super cinematography, crisp direction. Captures the blankness, drudgery and also the humanity of life lived daily in myriad offices in the USA. Kornbluth is a natural comic presence.
Rating:
Summary: "Go perm, and the firm will pay for your psycho--therapy."
Review: "Haiku Tunnel" is the story of a San Francisco based office temp, Joshua Kornbluth , who accepts yet another job--this time at an upscale lawyer's office. Now Josh is writing a novel, so an office position--with misuse of company time and equipment--represents a wonderful opportunity. On the first day, Josh impresses his boss and the office manager so much, that Josh is offered a 'perm' position. From this point on, things go downhill for Josh. This is a very low-budget film. It stars Joshua Kornbluth; it's directed by Joshua Kornbluth, and the script is written by Joshua Kornbluth. There are moments that work--and moments that don't. The strongest parts of the film occur in the office. Josh the Slacker, and Josh in the middle of office politics are absolutely the best parts. The film falls down in the scenes with Josh talking to the camera--usually in front of an eraser board as he lectures the audience on the many facets of office life. These scenes resemble a one-man-comedy-stand-up routine, and these scenes tend to be un-funny and repetitive. Negativity aside--Haiku Tunnel was mostly original, funny and entertaining. I laughed out loud at several points in the film. I also enjoyed "Office Space", but I found "Haiku Tunnel" to be subtler at its best moments, and slightly clumsier and amateurish at its worst moments--displacedhuman.
Rating:
Summary: A Must for Former, Current or Future Word Processors
Review: .... HAIKU TUNNEL hilariously nails the weirdness of word processing and law firms. I have only two complaints: it wasn't long enough; I wanted more. And I could not turn off the *French* captioning. ...Is it just my copy? In any case, I enjoyed the directors' commentary, with the nice, funny interplay of the brothers Kornbluth.
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Summary: This film requires life experience and brainwaves
Review: .
Those who found no humor in this film should play the Amazon nickel quiz and use the proceeds to buy themselves a funny bone. This is not yuk, yuk, yuk, slapschtick humor, that's true. It doesn't depend on people leaping 50 feet in the air or falling down a staircase or swallowing a bug or dropping their drawers in a public place. This film is based on a more sophisticated real-life humor. If you can't look back and remember times and jobs that you are really, really glad are in past and still laugh about it, you are not going to like this film. On the other hand, if you think life is a tragi-comedy, you'll probably love it!
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Summary: Haiku Tunnel
Review: A laugh track would have helped me know what parts were supposed to be funny. I rented this movie with a free coupon from a local rental store and I feel like I was ripped off. I can't imagine how people who paid to see this must feel, much less the poor saps that wasted the money to produced this thing. I've seen bad movies before, but this is ridiculous. I feel bad that someone might read this and feel intrigued enough to rent and watch this movie. This isn't one of those bad (good) movies. It is just a waste of time. This is the kind of movie that if you rent it and invite friends over, you will be the butt of jokes for weeks to come.
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Summary: A Must See
Review: Any movie that opens with The Pixies Debaser begins with 5 stars and this one lost no points with me. Funny from start to finish. The dialogue was clever and the filmmaker's commentary was almost as much fun as the feature. Another gem from the Sundance Film Festival. Support your independent filmmaker and buy this DVD.
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Summary: This is a Unique Film
Review: Anyone who thinks Office Space is better than Haiku Tunnel is drawn to the shallow end. Haiku Tunnel is not only funny, but offers more depth if you care to look. It does not try to make a statement. It toys with us. It tickles the intellect. And, unlike Office space, it is not quite predictable.
Haiku Tunnel is one unique film.
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Summary: The Best Temp Comedy Ever!
Review: As if there were a lot of comedies about office temps. Actually the last one (and only other one) I remember was called "Clockwatchers", which was an indie movie that featured Lisa Kudrow, Toni Collette and Parker Posey. This one doesn t have as much star power (although there is a scary looking Harry Shearer making a kind of unnecessary cameo that anyone else could have done) but "Haiku Tunnel" is that rare indie comedy that you think might be slightly funny when you see it one the new release rack. It's much better than that! You know when a movie starts with the Pixies classic "Debaser" that something good is coming up. Josh Kornbluth plays himself (kind of, sort of) in this office comedy of errors. Josh is temp that often works at law firms and while he like most of us can t stand the 9 to 5, he gets by (his solace is the fact that his bed is waiting for him at home). Josh get signals that his latest job might be for the devil, so he better do a good job. He is proficient that he is urged to take permanent status on the first day. He does and that s when things should turn around for this man that lives in the temp zone. It doesn't as he finds a myriad of excuses to prolong an important task that he was suppose to do right away (the mailing out of 17 very important letters). This movie has to be seen to be believed. It is filled with witty dialogues (and monologues), real life scenarios and the talent of this cast. Helen Shumaker (Marlina) is such an excellent comic actor she deserves the Academy Award for Supporting Actress (alas, no nods for this movie). "Haiku Tunnel" is the universal office comedy that is about a loser s loser but he is so real and candid that you can t help but like him and feel his predicament. I unfortunately bought the video on impulse so I can t talk about the extras on the DVD but the movie is a laugh riot. Its a must own or at the very least rent.
Rating: 
Summary: Left me talking to myself
Review: As the credits rolled for HAIKU TUNNEL, I was left wondering if a piece of cinematic brilliance had passed completely over my head, or if I'd just seen an essentially pointless, albeit quixotic and mildly entertaining, comedy. Josh Kornbluth plays "Josh Kornbluth", a cheerfully oddball character employed by an office temp agency, Uniforce. Perhaps Josh is the only resource in the Unifoce pool; it's an implied possibility. In any case, the plot follows the first week of our hero's employment with the law firm of Schuyler & Mitchell ("S&M"), where he's the personal secretary to one of the senior partners, Bob Shelby (Warren Keith). Josh is so impressive on his first day that he's offered a permanent position, a turn of events that causes him no small degree of angst. Josh is comfortable being a "temp". As a matter of fact, everything about him seems temporary, including his relationships with the opposite sex and his dedication to his dream of being a successful novelist. Josh is easily sidetracked by his anxiety at the prospect of a steady gig, and this inability to focus endangers his position with S&M as for four days he fails to get together and mail seventeen urgent letters for an incredibly patient Bob. The film's whole plot, mind you, revolves around this problematic stack of missives. The movie's most interesting persona is Marlina (Helen Shumaker), the Head Secretary and Kornbluth's immediate boss. She confronts Josh at the most inconvenient times, and voices her advice, admonitions, instructions or enquiries in a dead-pan and squinty-eyed, husky monotone that's positively eerie - an effect enhanced by the camera's close-up on her vaguely sinister face as she delivers her lines. At one point in the film, Josh reminisces about a previous job which involved his transcribing the engineering specs for the HAIKU TUNNEL, a highway tunnel ostensibly under construction in Hawaii. I share this trivia tidbit if you're wondering about the film's title. And, trust me, I haven't spoiled any part of the plot by offering this revelation. As with some trips I've taken, the attraction of HAIKU TUNNEL is in the Going rather than in the Getting There (because, as time and events prove, there's no "there" to get to). I was strangely fascinated by the quirky storyline, and kept waiting for the closing punch line to be delivered, or for the other shoe to drop. This either never happened, or was so subtle that I missed it. However, along the way, the screenwriters (Josh and Jacob Kornbluth and John Bellucci) illustrate some truths concerning the sterility and absurdities of the average 9 to 5. Perhaps, if you like the comic strip Dilbert, you'll see merit in this film.
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