Park Benches review

            Park Benches is a simple film with many characters to make it seem far more complex. There are not stars of the storyline as much as the location itself seems to be the focus. Not all of the film takes place on park benches, though the whole film surrounds the activity in and around a city park. We only spend the lunch hour on these park benches, following characters from their work place to a social gathering between strangers, showing the unique quality of an individual average day.

            The film begins as far from the park as we can get, stuck in an office building where a group of employees have become obsessed with a sign hung from an apartment building across the way. It says “Lonely Man,” and everyone seems to have a theory as to what this could mean, or what kind of man could live there. Even when a group of women are sent to check on the tenant, no answers are found.

            Meanwhile there is a hardware store nearby, filled with employees with varying ambition and customers with eclectic needs. There is a running gag with the size of batteries leaving the store, adding a bit of whimsy to this over-cast romantic comedy. With over 90 different speaking characters coming in and out of these two work places, and through the local park, Park Benches never stops moving and entertaining, though it never needs to dig too deep into any of the individual stories.