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Hard Labor

Play trailer 1:32 Poster for Hard Labor 2015 1h 39m Horror Mystery & Thriller Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
86% Tomatometer 7 Reviews 62% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
Sinister events plague a woman (Helena Albergaria) and her husband (Marat Descartes) when they buy a grocery store.

Critics Reviews

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Amy Taubin Film Comment Magazine 08/27/2019
[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. Go to Full Review
Noel Murray Los Angeles Times 04/07/2016
At its best, the film has the quality of a nightmare, one that keeps happening whether the characters are asleep or awake. Go to Full Review
Andy Webster New York Times 10/29/2015
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." Go to Full Review
Todd Jorgenson Cinemalogue 11/06/2015
Although some of the detours into thriller territory feel forced, it builds a quiet tension around its characters and their uncertain future. Go to Full Review
Maitland McDonagh Film Journal International 10/29/2015
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. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Regina A Jan 3 Aproveitando a torcida do brasileiro para Ainda Estou Aqui pensei em deixar um pitaco ou outro sobre filmes e diretores nacionais que valem a pena serem vistos. Não é novidade que Juliana Rojas é um grande nome nacional da atualidade no gênero de horror. Para além da produção de qualidade com baixo recurso, o que me pega na obra dela são as referências às sutilezas de contexto que nos aludem às situações cotidianas embebidas de significado no contexto nacional. A mulher de classe média que não vai assinar a carteira de trabalho da doméstica, a gerente que faz seleção de emprego com "dinâmica de grupo" e bexiga na mão, o coroa que entra no vizinho de pau na mão pra ver se é assalto (Trabalhar Cansa), a reunião pedagógica com o sorriso falso da colega de trabalho, o cinismo da diretora e a clara situação de julgamento e desprezo pela profissional lida por uma lente de rebaixamento de seu trabalho (Meu irmão, em O Duplo a sutileza das relações que tornam as condições de trabalho no magistério da educação básica insalubre, tá ali no fino). Essa coisa dos signos e significados produzidos em um contexto regional que contam muito dos nossos fazeres cotidianos e que perpassam a obra da Juliana Rojas lembra muito o trabalho do Mojica (Zé do caixão não é zoeira. A construção metafórica é foda e muito do que Mojica fez foi aproveitado por uma galera, inclusive da gringa. O Profeta da Fome, no qual ele atua, é um baita filme). "Trabalhar cansa" relê uma Helena, personagem clássico do Manoel Carlos, à la Juliana Rojas, com aquele toque de Edgar Alan Poe.;) See more 11/14/2015 A terrific, thoughtful and creepy film. See more Mike M 10/31/2011 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". See more 10/14/2011 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. See more 10/02/2011 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. See more Read all reviews
Hard Labor

My Rating

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Movie Info

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, Sara Silveira
Screenwriter
Juliana Rojas, Marco Dutra
Distributor
Cinema Slate
Production Co
Ancine - Agência Nacional do Cinema, Dezenove Filmes
Genre
Horror, Mystery & Thriller, Drama
Original Language
Brazilian Portuguese
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 30, 2015, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 23, 2017
Runtime
1h 39m
Sound Mix
Dolby Digital