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After Work

Name: After Work
Director: Erik Gandini
Released: 2023
Duration: 81 min

Representation Score

8.2/10

Excellent

2023

Director

Erik Gandini

Runtime

81 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

Erik Gandini’s documentary offers a global, non-Western perspective on labor. By moving between diverse nations, it avoids a narrow focus on Western experiences. However, the film lacks explicit representation of LGBTQ+ identities and visible disabilities, focusing instead on broader systemic issues. The documentary effectively challenges Western social constructs and the historical concept of the 'work ethic' through a wide international lens.

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Category Breakdown

Does After Work have LGBTQ+ representation?

Fair

The documentary does not explicitly address LGBTQ+ identities or challenge assumptions about straight relationships. It focuses on the experiences of workers rather than specific identity-based issues.

How does After Work portray gender?

Fair

The film challenges traditional views of masculinity by focusing on economic instability rather than male leadership. It highlights the vulnerability of workers across different countries.

How racially and ethnically diverse is After Work?

Good

The documentary presents a global perspective, moving between different countries such as Kuwait, South Korea, the United States, and Sweden. This approach showcases a range of human experiences beyond an Anglo-centric viewpoint.

How does After Work represent religion and culture?

Excellent

The narrative critiques Western institutions and capitalist systems, examining the decline of the Swedish welfare model and the growth of the gig economy.

Does After Work include disability representation?

Fair

The film explores the psychological impact of precarious employment but does not center neurodivergent characters. Instead, it addresses the broader implications of modern economic systems.

Present on Screen

Provides a non-Anglo-centric view of labor by traveling globally.
Critically deconstructs Western institutional values and neoliberal capitalism.
Avoids reinforcing traditional masculine leadership or provider archetypes.

Limited or Absent

Lacks explicit visibility for LGBTQ+ identities and non-assuming gender matches what was assigned at birth narratives.
Does not center visible or neurodivergent characters as primary subjects.
Limited character-driven ethnic depth due to the structural format.

Official Synopsis

Kuwait’s constitution says that every person has the right to a job, so in some places 20 people are employed for one person’s job. In South Korea, they work so much that a policy has been introduced to turn off computers at the end of the day so that employees can’t work any more. In the US, they give up over 500 million holiday hours each year, while Amazon’s drivers are trying to form a union. Meanwhile, robots are poised to take over most jobs and put the rest of us out of work. Work is so crucial to our identity and what we spend our waking hours on that it is barely noticed anymore. A lot has happened since a group of Puritan priests invented the concept of work ethic in the 1600s, and in the 21st century the very concept of work is in many ways disintegrating. A perfect situation for a filmmaker like Swedish mastermind Erik Gandini, who travels the world to explore what the concept of work means today – if it means anything at all.

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