Hard Labor

Released Oct 30, 2015

1h 39m

Horror

Mystery & Thriller

Drama

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Hard Labor: Trailer 1

1:32

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86%

Tomatometer

7 Reviews

61%

Audience Score

100+ Ratings

Sinister events plague a woman (Helena Albergaria) and her husband (Marat Descartes) when they buy a grocery store.

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Amy Taubin

Film Comment Magazine

[It] combines an undercurrent of horror (or more specifically the uncanny) with a realistic depiction of economic collapse, small-business labor/management tension, and a crisis in male identity, particularly among those made redundant.

Aug 27, 2019

Full Review

Noel Murray

Los Angeles Times

At its best, the film has the quality of a nightmare, one that keeps happening whether the characters are asleep or awake.

Apr 7, 2016

Full Review

Andy Webster

New York Times

The filmmakers, largely forgoing a soundtrack, skillfully manipulate stillness, silence and anomie to unsettling effect - at times evoking the ambient dread and decay of, say, Roman Polanski's "Repulsion."

Oct 29, 2015

Full Review

Todd Jorgenson

Cinemalogue

Although some of the detours into thriller territory feel forced, it builds a quiet tension around its characters and their uncertain future.

Nov 6, 2015

Full Review

Maitland McDonagh

Film Journal International

Hard Labor is a smart, sneaky little shocker whose subtexts add depth to its haunted-house framework and pay off in a final scene that's both weirdly off-kilter and entirely logical.

Oct 29, 2015

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Audience Member

A terrific, thoughtful and creepy film.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

Full Review

Mike M

Rustles up some nicely creepy, insinuating bits of business - a motion-controlled Santa Claus animatronic that goes off at quiet moments, a giant hairball crawling with maggots, the fact the couple's tracksuited, retro-haircutted child looks to have been styled after the lad from "The Shining" - but a lot of scenes appear rather more keen to stress the banality or hardship of the daily grind, or the hollowness of a lifestyle as a facilitator for consumption, than they are to push the narrative on. The ending, at least, is a resonant primal scream in the face of a system that feeds us bananas and treats us like monkeys, but for the most part, "Hard Labour" scarcely realises it's the world's first haunted supermarket movie - if I were anywhere near Hollywood, I'd remake the hell out of it stat, with the suggested title "Clean-Up on Aisle Three".

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

10/31/11

Full Review

Audience Member

I cannot say it isnt well-made but it is a tad baffling. There is a metaphor here where the horror element meets the domestic drama of a married couple struggling in the present economic climate - even in Brazil. But it is sadly lost on me. The horror element kinda came and went without much development - if so what's the point of that? Or did I miss something? So while I dont hate the film, I was most certainly disappointed.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Unusual, interesting Brazilian film about the current labour market, told through three very different characters in the same household. The crumbling wall of Helena's store and the reason for it create an element of suspense, which struck me as unnecessary at first, but actually adds an interesting layer to the storytelling. The symbolism is a bit too much, however, and the characterizations too flat.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

Full Review

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Juliana Rojas

Director

Marco Dutra

Director

Helena Albergaria

Helena

Marat Descartes

Otávio

Naloana Lima

Paula

Marina Flores

Vanessa

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Hard Labor: Trailer 1

1:32

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Synopsis

Sinister events plague a woman (Helena Albergaria) and her husband (Marat Descartes) when they buy a grocery store.

Director: Juliana Rojas, Marco Dutra
Producer: Maria Ionescu
Screenwriter: Juliana Rojas, Marco Dutra
Distributor: Cinema Slate
Genre: Horror, Mystery & Thriller, Drama
Original Language: Portuguese (Brazil)
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 30, 2015, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 23, 2017
Runtime: 1h 39m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital

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