Lapsis
Written and directed by Noah Hutton
Starring Dean Imperial, Madeline Wise, Babe Howard
In cinemas
Lapsis is a slightly sci-fi tale set in a near-parallel present in which gig economy workers are manipulated into competing with each other β and with robots β to make a living.
It is seen through the eyes of a naΓ―ve worker, Ray (Dean Imperial). Driven by debt, he signs up to lay cable for a newly developed quantum computing company.
However, Ray quickly discovers he has to compete with other workers to meet his deadlines. And, whatβs worse, the company uses robots to compete with the workers.
The movie is the brainchild of writer/producer/director/editor and musical score-creator Noah Hutton. Previously known for politically-committed documentaries, he spoke to ΒιΆΉΣ³» about Lapsis, describing the film as βa bit of sci fi with Greek tragedy laced through itβ.
Hutton said the inspiration for the film came from musing on βmy own experience of being a freelancer, living that kind of gig-to-gig lifestyle for the past decade in New York, and realising at a certain point that elements of my own experience were far more universalβ.
Those experiences included βhaving no health care, of having to buy your own equipment, of feeling cut off from other people, other workers, of not having any solidarity with other people who are like you.β
Another of the filmβs aspects is βthe gamification of labourβ. By this, Hutton means βthe ways in which these companies are adding little bells and whistles and making their exploitation into a video game, in order to mask whatβs really going onβ.
Gig work corporations βget people thinking ... if they can just get one more route, one more perk, theyβre on their way to breaking out of the system and leaving the rest of their fellow workers behindβ.
"What all of these things fit into ... is a sort of Russian nesting-doll world of scams," said Hutton.
"I really feel like that best describes everything from our global financial system all the way down to the smallest business owner, who is fleecing his employees into thinking he can only pay minimum wage, when he can probably afford to pay much more.β
βI just believe that more and more we live in a world of hyper-salesmanship and scams.β
In Lapsis, all this is conveyed with sardonic humour, and by some good acting performances from the cast of unknowns. While set in an alternative reality, the world of Lapsis isnβt all that different.
The film's trailer can be seen .