A young man gets offered a job to stand in a square all day -- but his life passes by.


FULL TIME is used with permission from Jon Ryan Sugimoto. Learn more at https://jonryan.tv.


Michael Tucker is a skateboarder who has just graduated from college. While they're wondering what they're going to do for work, they're still going about their happy-go-lucky lives in New York, doing skate tricks in the park. Then Michael offered a job by a mysterious businessman, to stand in a square outside all day. Skeptical of the gig at first but happy to make some cash, Michael does his job and gets paid.

Michael also gets the offer to continue, and he makes more money over time. The more money he makes, the more he sticks to the gig, and he doesn't leave the square, even when his friends tempt him to join them in skating or a woman entreats him to help when her purse is stolen. Michael is loyal to his job, even as life passes him by -- and the days begin adding up.

Directed and written by Jon Ryan Sugimoto, this comedy has the gritty texture and look of a New York City film, with its natural light and mostly handheld camerawork. We're introduced to Michael as a free-spirited young man, indulging in the kind of loose, goofy conversation that bros have with their friends. At first, they talk about the weird things they would or would not do to make a living in a hilarious dialogue that sets up the film's resonant themes. But little do they know that Michael will get the strangest job of all.

As the film's high-concept premise plays out, it becomes strangely like a fairy tale, as well as a wily metaphor for the way we get seduced into the daily grinds of adulthood. Part of the stylistic transition is accomplished with subtle, deft craftsmanship, from the almost abstract framings of the images to the gently eerie film score by Oliver Hill, all of which evoke a strange mental netherworld nestled in an unassuming reality. The world is happening around Michael, full of life and bustle, but all he does is stand there in his square and let it pass him by, lured by the promise of money and advancement that the businessman delivers when he decides Michael has done a good job.

Actor Andrew Lutheran deftly portrays Michael with a goofy, youthful charm, one whose amiability easily comes under the sway of the businessman's money. Actor Iddo Goldberg is a cipher as Michael's employer, playing his boss with curt professionalism underlined by a sense of menace and startling flashes of intensity that scare Michael enough to keep him in line. That dangerous power, coupled with the promise of more money and a "promotion," is enough to keep Michael reeled in, loyal to his job even as his youth and spirit slowly ebb away.

FULL TIME takes its high-concept premise to its logical end, in a scene that is both wistful and bleakly funny. Though the film is entertaining to watch, it's also thought-provoking, because it forces viewers to look at the trade-offs they've made to make a living in a fresh, albeit discomfiting light. It asks questions about what keeps us in boxes, the rules are we abiding by and the cost we pay for a sense of security that is sometimes an illusion at best. It also asks when we believe we earn the right to enjoy being alive -- and why we think we have to earn it in the first place.