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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Left me talking to myself, 12 Mar 2006
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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(1 customer review)
