So your making a movie and it calls for a skinny pale skinned creepy guy. Who do you call to fill the role? Crispin Glover to the rescue. Glover has been in greats like the Back to the Future series, Alice in Wonderland and many others. I watched Bartelby today. The movie is based on of a Herman Melville (Moby Dick) short story. The story mostly revolves around a fastidious office manager and a new employee, Bartleby, whose last job was working in a dead letter office with the Post Office. There is a large amount of foreshadowing when the Bartleby hands the manager his resume and a recomendation from his last job. The manager jokes that when a new hire hands a sparkling letter of recommendation to him that quick it usually means the old boss is in a hurry to get rid of the employee.
Barleby starts off as a model employee by doing a great job and doing more work than expected. As time goes on though his work declines but mostly when the manager ask’s him to a task Bartleby responds with: “I would prefer not to.” This becomes a mantra with the new employee and soon gives up all his work and takes up staring at an A/C duct. The manager becomes obsessed with why his new hire is not working and the phrase, “I would 
prefer not to.” The manager is forced to fire the employee but Bartleby never leaves the office. Even after the manager moves to a different office just to avoid the creep, the new tenants find him and make him feel a responsibility to Bartleby.
In the story Bartleby never says anything personal or explains his behavior. Melville’s story has been analyzed and some have speculated that it is just a story about depression, others stated it is a precursor to existentialism, and is most likely a story that the author wrote out of frustration that he was feeling at the time.
The movie is acted and produced well. The director uses color on the sets that is fun to watch. The movie does seem a little dated but the story is timeless. Joe Piscapo does a good job of stealing some of the scenes.
What are you watching?
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