The Parking Lot Movie

[indysteel]

Has anybody seen this documentary? DH and I watched it last night through Netflix's "watch instantly" option. It's about a parking lot, and its attendants, on the University of Virginia campus. I know you're probably asking why anybody would want to watch a film about a parking lot, but it was really good. It offered an interesting and funny perspective on American car culture, class and entitlement. And most of the attendants are bike riders! I recommend it.

[Mr. Bloom]

Bet I'll watch it tonight!

[indysteel]

In ways both bad and good, the film reminded me of my years in Bloomington. The attendants reminded me of many of the guys I knew at I.U. On the surface, they seemed like slackers--and they were on some level--but many of them were also crazy smart. The movie certainly also brings to mind the class divide that's common to Bloomington, too.

[ultraviolet]

I watched this a few weeks ago. Loved it! Then again, I love documentaries with seemingly inane topic areas. If you haven't yet seen The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, I highly recommend it.

[indysteel]

I'm glad you liked it, too! I loved learning what they're all doing now. It was a bit of a punch line.

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll check it out. I noted a while ago that Netflix has a lot of documentaries that you can stream instantly to your tv (if you have that capability) or your computer. My husband doesn't quite like them like I do (I often go for pretty heavy topics), so I can try to sneak one in when he's not around. I watched one the other day called Ballerina--about prima ballerinas from the Kirov Ballet in Russia. It was interesting. I added a bunch to my instant queue earlier today.

[LivetoRide]

Hey, thanks for the recommendation; I watched The Parking Lot Movie tonight and really liked it--even though I'm usually one who greatly favors tv series over movies (perhaps because they're ongoing). Do you have any other recommendations for movies--perhaps like this one?

[sfa]

I haven't seen it, but I'll put it in my queue--sounds like an interesting idea fora movie.

Garrison Keillor was a parking lot attendant when he was in college. As I recall, he said he liked it because it gave him long stretches of time to read and study.

[indysteel]

Hey, thanks for the recommendation; I watched The Parking Lot Movie tonight and really liked it--even though I'm usually one who greatly favors tv series over movies (perhaps because they're ongoing). Do you have any other recommendations for movies--perhaps like this one?

By "like this one," do you mean documentaries? Did you get the Parking Lot Movie from Netflix? If so, just browse their other documentary offerings, many of which you can watch instantly. The ones currently in my queue are The Cove, Exit Through the Gift Shop, The Smartest Guys in the Room (which I've watched before but would like to see again), and Restrepo, but there any number of others worth watching. Some I've particularly liked in the past are Murder on a Sunday Morning, Sound and Fury, To Be and to Have (French), Half Past Autumn, Born into Brothels, A Thin Blue Line, Spellbound and The Fog of War.

For as bad as Hollywood's offering sometimes are, documentarians have been doing some truly wonderful work on any number of subjects--some arcane or extremely personal and some on well known subjects. A lot of what I like to watch in terms of documentaries are objectively pretty depressing and/or disturbing. There's one documentary, The Last Days, that I have probably watched at least five times, and every time I end up with a pile of spent tissues because it makes me bawl so badly. It's about Hungarian Jews and the Holocaust. As you might guess, it's extremely sad, but there's also something incredibly life affirming about it, too.

You might want to look at the list of Oscar-nominated documentaries, too, for some great suggestions:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy...entary_Feature

[LivetoRide]

Thanks IndySteel. I did watch it via Netflix--and yes, I meant recommendations in general and/or other movies that perhaps reimnded you of this movie in some way (such as style, etc.).

[indysteel]

Thanks IndySteel. I did watch it via Netflix--and yes, I meant recommendations in general and/or other movies that perhaps reimnded you of this movie in some way (such as style, etc.).

Hmmmm. The Parking Lot Movie isn't a fictional "movie" so from a stylistic standpoint, the best recommendations I can give are for the documentaries I've already mentioned. I can't say that it necessarily reminds me of other fcitional movies. I suppose if you're looking for something along the lines of intellectuals-posing-as-slackers, I'd check out anything by Kevin Smith, but I don't personally like his work. Well, I did when I was 20, but I can't say I like it now.

Beyond that, my movie recommendations are generally of the independent film variety. I tend to like small films with simple stories. Big budget flicks rarely do much for me. But if that's what you're looking for in terms of recommendations, just go onto Netflix and browse their Indie film genre on Netflix. Just a few I've liked over the years are: The Station Agent, Lars and the Real Girl, Junebug, Waitress, The Visitor, Shattered Glass, Lovely and Amazing, Tully, and You Can Count on Me--to name a few.

[ultraviolet]

A few recent-ish documentaries I've loved:
King of Kong
Helvetica
Objectified
Art & Copy
King Corn
Herb & Dorothy
The September Issue
The Corporation

Next up on my list to watch are:
Milton Glaser: Inform & Delight
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Paper Clips
Valentino: The Last Emperor

And if any of the theatres in my area get it, I'd love to see Bill Cunningham New York. It's just been released.

Yeah, my list is heavily slanted to design and art-related films.

[LivetoRide]

Thanks for all the recommendations you guys.

Ultraviolet- I've seen Exit Through the Gift Shop--in my opinion, it was pretty good, but not as high on my list as The Parking Lot Movie. I've also seen Paper Clips but it was quite a while back when I saw it.

[jessmarimba]

I'm watching it now.

I used to live there - never drove to the parking lot, but a lot of their customers are the reason I left that school. If only I'd found the anthropology department there...could've been me in the movie!

[eofelis]

We first saw the Parking Lot Movie on PBS, I think it was Independent Lense. We loved it right away. We don't buy many DVDs but we went and bought this one right away. We have seen it about a dozen times since. We had friends over to see it. Great film!

We just saw Winnebago Man. The bf loved it.

[indysteel]

We first saw the Parking Lot Movie on PBS, I think it was Independent Lense. We loved it right away. We don't buy many DVDs but we went and bought this one right away. We have seen it about a dozen times since. We had friends over to see it. Great film!

We just saw Winnebago Man. The bf loved it.

At the risk of a spoiler, I just love the end where they indicate what certain of the attendants are doing now. Many have gone on to some pretty cool things. I'm a HUGE Yo La Tengo fan, too, so it's neat that one of them is the band's bassist. I've seen them live, but didn't put two and two together.