Short film

Hardly Working

2022 · 21 min

A wry, quietly hypnotic essay that turns looping game extras into a mirror of everyday labor, funny and faintly sad.

Overview: An ethnographic exploration of the work and daily life of non-player characters, the digital extras in video games. Their labor loops, activity patterns as well as bugs and malfunctions paint a vivid analogy for work under capitalism.
How it feels: Satirical, melancholic, absurd and cynical. Measured and needs your attention.
About: Work, class, technology, isolation
Content: No violence, gore, sexual content or swearing.
Note: Written by AI, so it can be wrong. Full breakdown

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Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Full breakdown

Tone: satiricalstrength 2 of 3
melancholicstrength 2 of 3
absurdstrength 2 of 3
cynicalstrength 1 of 3
Pacing: measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention: engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes: work
class
technology
isolation
identity
Places: None
Era: contemporary
Audience: adult
Form: animated
documentary
Content intensity: Gore none
Language none
Violence none
Sex none

All scales, 0 to 10

No streaming, rental or purchase options are known in the US.

Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Genres: animation, documentary
Directed by: Leonhard Müllner, Michael Stumpf, Robin Klengel, Susanna Flock
Written by: Leonhard Müllner, Michael Stumpf, Robin Klengel, Susanna Flock
Starring: A_F_M_ASBtownfolk_02, A_F_M_SDslums_02, A_M_M_NBXdockworkers_01, A_M_M_VALlaborer_01, Jacob Banigan
Runtime: 21 min
Country: Austria
Languages: English