Hot Docs review: The Parking Lot Movie

You wouldn't ordinarily think that a parking lot and its attendants would make for a compelling documentary. In most cases you'd be right. But the Corner Parking Lot in Charlottesville, Virginia is a parking lot like no other.

The Parking Lot Movie introduces us to the wide range of characters who work there over the last 20+ years, and we are drawn in to their mundane yet fascinating world. Those that work there are a privileged group made up of highly articulate college students, intellectuals and artists of all sorts. Somehow, their daily struggles take on a weighty yet comical significance and they earn our complete sympathy for the abuse and condescension they experience from the parking lot patrons.

Director-producer Meghan Eckman has done a superb job of taking a a seemingly boring and pointless topic and making an enjoyable, comedic feature-length movie. You get a good sense of how interesting people can be, even when their work maybe isn't.

One of the most pleasant surprises of the festival. Catch it when you get a chance.

“I did not overcharge people to get more money. I overcharged people because they were dicks and deserved it. Vengeance is mine.”
John Beers, Parking Lot Attendant
1986-1990