Last year director Pete Ohs released a brisk, barely-70-minute film I liked at the time and have come to only grow fonder and think more of since: Jethica, an awkward but awkwardly-emotional tale of a ghost stalker not taking a hintThis year I'm happy to say it won't take time or retrospective for me to think fondly of his new brisk, barely-70-minute film; I liked (really liked) Love and Work from the startCostarring the antagonist from Jethica (Will Madden) in another fun performance but in a film where everyone really shines (especially the real star, Stephanie Hunt), Love and Work is a scifi dystopia romcom with a premise Ohs in a prologue airing before the screening alluded to at least himself, if not really all of us deep down, feeling during COVID: work sucks and we complain about it and how it isn't needed, but what if we got our wish and it just stopped? In a world or society where it's illegal to have a job, would that result truly satisfy us either? Under the guise of saying everything that needs made has already been made and there's already enough of it made so that we don't need to make more, Ohs asks if some of us (not necessarily me obviously lol, but some of us) could really tolerate that and enjoy just existing to exist, and not having a purpose or use. Like I said earlier, the cast really helps this premise not only go the distance, but feel immediately fresher, better, more cohesive than the prior Jethica. Occasionally sweet, sometimes thought-provoking and meditative (especially in the beautiful ending), but always entertainingGod is it entertaining, even in the little moments. The cemetery of actual last names of people I know that surprisingly double as job titles is such a clever gag omg
