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DVD9
PAL 4:3
Region 0
Languages: Schweizerdeutsch
Subtitles: Deutsch English Français Español Português
Well Done
CH 1994 73'
Director: Thomas Imbach
Script: Thomas Imbach, Monika Gsell
Camera: Jürg Hassler, Thomas Imbach
Sound: Peter Bräker
Editing: Thomas Imbach, Jürg Hassler
Well Done
Thomas Imbach
What is the best way of portraying day-to-day work in a massive computer centre serving the financial community of Zurich? The answer is: to spend months actually being there, observing it from inside, compiling and classifying 60 hours of film and then editing this material into seemingly unrelated components – without the slightest commentary – by means of hectic montage, cutting and slashing until the whole grand system dissipates to dust. The result is an absurd serial ballet à la Jacques Tati, presented in staccato format. This method highlights the stress, alienation, materialism to which the modern world of the almighty computer exposes us. Thomas Imbach and his cameraman Jürg Hassler set themselves the mammoth task of doing just that: producing fragmented images of phone calls, nervous fingers gliding across keyboards, sidelong glances, briefings, data, banking jargon and automatic gestures – all in order to highlight (not without bitterness) the loss of humanity inherent in the reign of marketing and electronics.
"“WELL DONE reminds us how long
it has taken for the realities of the
post-industrial work world in
Switzerland, dominated by data
flows that are hardly less monotonous
than the conveyor belts of
yore, to be represented in film form.
(…) The images created here are
exemplary in many ways, thanks
also to an artistic approach that
is more concerned with gaining
distance, with establishing abstraction,
than with a simple exercise in
unmasking.”
Christoph Egger, Neue Zürcher Zeitung
“WELL DONE is an absurdly humorous
look at the total dominance exerted
by our economic system, without
descending into pathos. A telephone
operator uses the same jargon
when talking about private matters
with her colleagues as she uses for
customers, managers who perform
calculations as they jog, or an office
worker who conducts a sort of performance
appraisal with his teenage
son. This is a film about life – not
just office life – and one of the best
in a long while.”
Andreas Furler, Tages-Anzeiger
Thomas Imbach
Born in 1962 in Lucerne. Independent filmmaker based in Zurich. With his production company Bachim Films produces own work. Recipient of numerous awards both in Switzerland and abroad.
2007 I WAS A SWISS BANKER
2006 LENZ
2002 HAPPY TOO
2001 HAPPINESS IS A WARM GUN
1998 NANO-BABIES
1997 GHETTO
1994 WELL DONE
1991 RESTLESTNESS
1988 SCHLACHTZEICHEN
Internet
- Website WELL DONE
- A Method Called Hanging Around. Christian Iseli reports on the working style of filmmaking duo Thomas Imbach and Jürg Hassler (Well Done), and the role of digital video in their work.
- Herumhängen als Methode. Christian Iselis Artikel deutsch.
- Website Thomas Imbach - Bachim Film
- SWISSFILMS portrait Thomas Imbach
