The Interview

German director Harun Farocki has been making films—mostly documentary shorts—for four decades, and this one from 1997 is fairly characteristic, serving up a relatively shapeless series of vignettes (recorded in a very spartan style) at a class designed to prepare people for job interviews. The Interview eschews narration or commentary, simply offering a fly-on-the-wall view of enrollees—some trying to move up the employment ladder, others having lost positions, a few just entering the market, and a couple of obviously troubled individuals with serious personal problems—as they interact with instructors and fellow students. Numerous scenes of mock interviews, often rather embarrassing, are presented as the “applicants” try to make a positive impression in front of their sometimes censorious instructors, who play the part of prospective employers and occasionally watch videotapes of the students' performances and dissect them critically, both in individual sessions and in dialogue with the entire class. Farocki's purpose is clearly to suggest the dehumanizing effect not only of the job interview itself but also of selling one's self, and The Interview does successfully convey that message through cumulative effect, but at the same time the film is repetitive, and the deliberately crude cinematic technique grows wearisome. A booklet containing a filmography and short appreciative essays on the filmmaker is also included. Optional. [Note: Farocki's 1987 documentary Indoctrination is also newly available.] Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)