Cloud

A young entrepreneur thinks big and sets up his own novel company, where he buys unused goods cheap and then sells them for enormous profits. 

Things go so well with one deal that he's able to quit his day job, after his obsessed infatuated boss strategically offers him a managerial position. 

Life in the country bucolically starts to romantically sound appealing, so he rents a chalet lakeside, hires an assistant, moves in with his partner. 

Things go well for a prosperous short period before a group of irate customers, upset about the cheap products he's sold them, come calling with fists of fury. 

He makes a last ditch effort to honestly sell legitimate goods. 

Before he's outrageously kidnapped.

And taken to an abandoned factory.

The film has a really cool ending where a friend efficiently emerges, unexpectedly enabling effective synergies relaxed and calm, humble and self-sacrificing. 

If you've ever wondered what it might be like to resell sought after goods online, it's a cool story that feverishly examines the stunning highs and disastrous lows. 

Yoshii makes it look easy he just buys a bunch of old machines, takes a picture, makes an ad, waits 'till they sell, quickly mails them. 

I was going to sell some old records online but it seemed like such a hassle, taking pictures, making individual ads, placing them in the mail one by one, for maybe 15$ apiece, it seemed like my labour was worth more than that.

So I gave them to the Restore, but if you could buy 40 of the same new record, and just make one ad, and then package them all swiftly and mail them at the same time, costs would go way down, and you could potentially earn some sweet casholla.

I imagine things would go well if you weren't that greedy. 

Could be super chill self-employment. 

Opening a record store may be much easier. 

The Assistant

The days go by, routine tasks, some like any other.

The assistant's (Julia Garner as Jane) glad to be working in the film industry but unaccustomed to what her fellows take for granted.

The days are long and peeps are on edge and even though it's never explicitly stated, hierarchy pervades each and every interaction.

Tensions suddenly lighten.

To whitewash something creepy.

Rats racing panopticon hashtag hydra disenchantment.

Will you be the one?

Can you appease the indignity?

It can't be like this in every environment but the Weinstein trial and the Me Too Movement bluntly state otherwise.

It's like Jane's motionless in a labyrinth and only the beast can facilitate movement, but it's so repellent that immobility's preferable inasmuch as it securely gestates.

You need to be focused upon to get anywhere but there's well-being if you're casually overlooked, as if the prize can't compensate for the anxiety unless you embrace ethical oblivion.

It seemed fascinating from the viewpoint of my youth to enter a working world wherein which there was professional respect for different cultures and genders, and I've worked in environments where this was the case (still do) and thoroughly enjoyed resultant routines.

I'm on my own (relatively) now which is amazing for travel and variety, but sometimes I miss seeing other people at work every day and the ways in which those stock conversations made me feel like part of a team.

You see Jane's quotidian confines slowly driving her nuts in The Assistant though, and I don't envy her position, how could it ever be appealing if you're on edge all the time?, with the prospect of stardom still a million to one shot?

There's peace of mind in bourgeois politesse.

The Assistant isn't the greatest film although its realism is frank and sincere. It pulls you into a harrowing reality where not much happens unfortunately. In reflecting upon the film I realize that it does a great job of making you feel Jane's struggles, living and breathing her shocks and fears as well as her courage and headstrong individualism. But for most of the film she cleans up or answers the phone or sends emails. It's too real, too boring, like I'm actually working instead of watching a film.

There's one scene that stands out, when she complains about the possible sexual assault of a new coworker, and it makes a strong albeit disheartening point as everyone else flippantly states nothing can be done.

I don't know what kind of narrative could actually generate change, I thought In the Company of Men would 23 years ago.

I find it's best to avoid relationships at work.

Seems like a potential solution to all this scandal.

I don't think that's how it works but it could work that way.

Perhaps social media's changing things.