Workers' Blues: The Labor FilmFest

LABOR DAY WAS a few weeks ago, but the Eighth annual D.C. Labor FilmFest still seems timely. The AFI Silver is now billing the fest as "Real Films for Hard Times" to appeal to those moviegoers who aren't expecting a check from Secretary Paulson.

Assuming you've still got a bank and some money left in it, you've got lots of options. If your sense of humor needs a bailout, "Kabluey" features a schlub who's forced to support his in-laws by dressing as the pathetic foam-rubber mascot of a failing Internet company while his brother fights in Iraq. (No, it's not a documentary.)

For even purer physical humor, check out a restored print of 1936's silent classic "Modern Times" and watch Charlie Chaplin literally become a cog in the machine, as well as mistake cocaine for salt and accidentally lead a communist demonstration. (If anyone had the clout to flout the Production Code, it was Chaplin.)

If this year's fest has a star, it's Iranian-American director Ramin Bahrani, who after only two features has already mastered gritty-but-uplifting neorealism and who mostly uses non-actors. "Man Push Cart" (featured at the 2006 Labor FilmFest) put Bahrani on the map with its tale of a Pakistani pop star-turned-New York City street vendor, and lead actor Ahmad Razvi garnered several awards for his performance despite having no acting background.

Razvi returns in 2007's "Chop Shop," though the star here is Alejandro, an orphan whose home is the strip of auto-repair shops and scrap yards in the shadow of what was Shea Stadium.

Washington, D.C., isn't exactly a "Norma Rae" kind of town; with cube-dwellers predominating, office humor always goes over well here. So it's no surprise that the fest will have multiple showings of Mike Judge's box-office-bomb-turned-cult-classic "Office Space," which, aside from the Michael Bolton reference, remains as relevant as it was in 1999.

Underneath the Ron Livingston and Jennifer Aniston romance, there are mindless TPS reports (with cover sheets), a scene of wanton printer destruction and more quotable lines than "The Big Lebowski." You don't need to wear any flair, though you do need to show up if you want to win the red Swingline stapler raffle.

» AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring; through Oct. 14, $10; 301-495-6700, (Silver Spring)

Written by Express contributor Paul Stelter
Photo by Mary Altaffer courtesy AFI