"One monotonous day is followed by another monotonous, identical day. The same things will happen, they will happen again—the same moments find us and leave us..."
This short film by indie film director Lee Deaville embarks upon a journey, where Petr (Robert Hawthorne) sets himself up in a sequence of events to get him through his night shift; just to make it to another day, another evening. Stacking boxes, checking the expiration dates on the milk and cans, all the while narrating his evening as if he's giving special instructions for a Mission Impossible, sans the intricate locks and abnormal use of explosions to get our attention.
But what does get our attention is the unique camera direction and the focused cinematography that gives depth, and a sense of atmosphere, to the isolated surroundings. If viewed plainly, the viewer would neglect to analyze the subtle details: the percise rows of products that line the isles, the contrasts between the dimily lit and dark areas of the store—and Petr basking in the remote aspects of the market, finding ways to utilize the fixtures within his surroundings to adjust. Petr, finding comfort with complacency, modifies the stock within the aisles, uses the bathroom, and takes his lunch in the dimily lit breakroom, where the TV does not work.
Just waiting for the world to end — to begin his shift and to do what he can just to make it through another evening, another monotonous night. I can relate.
"A month passes and ushers in another month. One easily guesses the coming events; they are the boring ones of yesterday. And the morrow ends up not resembling a morrow anymore." — Constantine P. Cavafy (1908)
Waiting for the End of the World won the Best Artist Film Award at Manchester's Exposure FIlm Festival.
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