The Giant Mechanical Man

Tim performs on the street as a mechanical man, painted silver and standing on tall stilts. Nobody stops to watch and what he earns does not cover his rent. His girlfriend leaves him. Janice works temporary jobs; she is let go from each of them, her sister keeps telling her what to do, and in her thirties she still does not know what she wants. The two meet doing cleaning work at a zoo. Tim is out of costume and Janice does not know who he is. Lee Kirk writes and directs. Jenna Fischer plays Janice and Chris Messina plays Tim, with Topher Grace and Malin Akerman in the cast. The subject is not two people finding each other but both of them having to defend the life they chose. Everyone around them is telling them what they ought to be doing. The street act stands in the narrative as a figure: a man stays motionless in order to be seen, and nobody looks. The narrative is quiet and measured; there is no large conflict and the drama is kept small. Jenna Fischer was then known from television and the part is in the same register but plainer. Its limit is formula; the romance runs on its expected line and the ending ties up easily. Who it is for: viewers who like small scale American independent romance. Who it is not for: little happens, it is predictable, and the metaphor is too plain.