A woman is hired to shoot a video for an absurd birthday party.
THE PARTY JOB is used with permission from Raechelle Banno. Learn more at / palindromeprd .
Molly is a videographer hired with her co-worker Ben to capture the action at a kid's party. The party is for 11-year-old Kens, thrown by eager but anxious parents Gloria and Chester. But as Molly sets up and tries to figure out what to shoot, she realizes that this party isn't a standard birthday party at all.
But what it is, she can't quite figure out, though she knows things are awkward and tense. It's only when she finally gets to talk to Kens that she realizes exactly what is going on -- and how it's affecting the silent young child at the center of it all.
Directed and written by Raechelle Banno with a deft eye for both droll humor and human vulnerability, this lucid, compassionate short dramedy takes both its tension and comedy from the strange rabbit hole that a relatively grounded presence falls into unsuspectingly. Molly thinks she's entering just another kid's birthday party at first -- there are balloons, refreshments and plenty of guests. The cinematography has a clear, bright sheen to it, capturing this one sunny day fit for a celebration. And yet Molly can tell something isn't right: there are no other kids, for instance. And more importantly, the child that the party is for is a silent, morose presence, even at a party celebrating him.
In this respect, the narrative structure is a bit like a mystery, as Molly tries to figure out what is going on. There are moments of humor on the way, often found in the quirky characterizations of the people she encounters, from her distracted slacker co-worker Ben to Kens' parents, who bring a whole new meaning to the term "helicopter parents." A subtle sense of satire informs the storytelling, sending up the emotional and financial extravagance of modern-day parenting.
But the biting nature of satire is tempered, as Molly's curiosity and growing concern pulls the story forward, and she slowly uncovers just what the party is for. The parents, as it turns out, are celebrating the end of Kens's anxiety. The party, though, seems more for them than for Kens, who has been made to perform the part of a happy, well-adjusted child, though we increasingly realize that he isn't, no matter what the grown-ups around him think.
Actor Karina Banno plays Molly with a watchful presence, whose intelligent curiosity grows as much as her disbelief. But when she finally gets a chance to talk to Kens himself -- played with terrific sensitivity and understatement by young actor Ezekiel Sciacca -- they have perhaps the only genuine human interaction in the film.
But it proves quietly affirming for both, leaving both feeling a little less alone in a strange, sometimes alienating world. And with the film's wisdom and insights into anxiety, it also leaves viewers of THE PARTY JOB feeling a bit more hopeful that compassion and empathy prevail in a world where children living up to others' expectations and assuaging other people's anxieties is more valued than having them feel seen or heard for who they really are.