I first saw the 2008 film, Visioneers, a few months after it came out, when it hit the movie channels, back when I could afford movie channels. The film stars Zach Galifianakis, whom I'd heard of and seen in his Purple Onion comedy special, but didn't know too well. I think the first Hangover movie had just hit cinemas, so he was just on the verge of becoming a household name. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to get from this one, but I soon found it to be a razor sharp skewering of contemporary corporate culture.
The film is set in a near future only slightly off kilter from where we are now (or were in 2008). It's a world where "touchy-feely" Human Resources driven "feel good" philosophies have become more than culture and more than courtesy. They're basically the law of the land and everyone is expected to adhere to the "think good" techniques fostered and foisted by the corporate masters. People do their best to portray an aura of happiness and pleasantness at all times, though there is a slight problem brewing as random individuals begin to spontaneously explode. I don't mean emotional outburst either. I mean they actually, literally blow up, as in "real good".
Zach plays George, a white collar employee who works in the vaguely defined middle managerial role of "level 3 tunt", overseeing a handful of underlings. The company he works for is the largest, most successful corporation in the world and it is run on the basis that appearances are EVERYTHING. After witnessing one of his coworkers blow up in front of him, George begins to suspect he may be on the verge of experiencing the same fate and begins to question his life, his relationships and the nature of the world he lives in.
The film is a brilliantly balance look at the insanity of a culture which denies true self expression and forces people into unnatural and intuitively conflicting roles. It is deeply funny in its ability to expose the absurdities of interpersonal professional relationships, in particularly the often passive-aggressive subtexts within those interactions. As the veneer if this idyllic dystopian civilization begins to wear thin, Galifianakis does an incredible job of imbuing George with comic pathos as he walks the tightrope between nervous restraint and occasional exuberant outbursts.
If you're a fan of Galifianakis, this is one of his best roles in a truly original conception, wonderfully directed and realized by first time director Jared Drake. If you can find this, watch it!
The film is set in a near future only slightly off kilter from where we are now (or were in 2008). It's a world where "touchy-feely" Human Resources driven "feel good" philosophies have become more than culture and more than courtesy. They're basically the law of the land and everyone is expected to adhere to the "think good" techniques fostered and foisted by the corporate masters. People do their best to portray an aura of happiness and pleasantness at all times, though there is a slight problem brewing as random individuals begin to spontaneously explode. I don't mean emotional outburst either. I mean they actually, literally blow up, as in "real good".
Zach plays George, a white collar employee who works in the vaguely defined middle managerial role of "level 3 tunt", overseeing a handful of underlings. The company he works for is the largest, most successful corporation in the world and it is run on the basis that appearances are EVERYTHING. After witnessing one of his coworkers blow up in front of him, George begins to suspect he may be on the verge of experiencing the same fate and begins to question his life, his relationships and the nature of the world he lives in.
The film is a brilliantly balance look at the insanity of a culture which denies true self expression and forces people into unnatural and intuitively conflicting roles. It is deeply funny in its ability to expose the absurdities of interpersonal professional relationships, in particularly the often passive-aggressive subtexts within those interactions. As the veneer if this idyllic dystopian civilization begins to wear thin, Galifianakis does an incredible job of imbuing George with comic pathos as he walks the tightrope between nervous restraint and occasional exuberant outbursts.
If you're a fan of Galifianakis, this is one of his best roles in a truly original conception, wonderfully directed and realized by first time director Jared Drake. If you can find this, watch it!
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