Academy Cinema; Paramount Theatre
May 11 (Akld); 21 (Wgtn) | Reviewed by Kate Blackhurst

CANADIAN Lonny Goosen, who has almost $3,000 in unpaid parking fines, sets out to make a documentary about parking enforcers. He is obviously coming from an extremely biased standpoint and intends to lampoon the institution, but the humanity of some of the people he meets alters his opinion; soon he is involved in their plight to keep the streets safe from motor vehicle infringements.

This mockumentary is a tongue in cheek pastiche of many cinematic styles and ridicules all the tropes of documentary making. There are the vox pops of the ‘man on the street’ ranting about parking wardens; there are the telephone conversations with the company’s helpline, “Do you have someone I can speak to? Do you have anyone who cares?”; there are the attempts at undercover investigative reporting with fuzzed out faces and false promises that this will be ‘off the record’; and there are the interviews.

Ah, the interviews. Goosen mocks and ridicules his subjects, pulling faces behind their backs while nodding sagely to their faces, as the crew is seen laughing or flirting in the background. This intrusion hilariously sends up those unbearably smug presenters who seem to think their reaction is more important than the issue itself. Some subjects don’t want to be filmed, some have aspirations to be actors and others become stilted when on camera. As Goosen becomes more involved with the parking enforcers he gets drunk in their secret club, watches their ‘inspirational’ training videos and gets propositioned by one of his subjects which induces equal amounts of cringe and laughter from the viewer – apparently “I can make your legs numb” is a chat-up line in Canada.

Goosen picks a few main characters to follow; Grant (a mixture of Radar from M*A*S*H and David Brent from The Office); Murray (a fanatical parking enforcer guru); and Jerome (a French Canadian tow-truck driver with lumberjack leanings). Their colleagues and bosses make a fantastic supporting cast. When Murray ends up in a full body plaster cast, like something out of The Pink Panther films, there is a mystery to be solved. Was he hit by someone he had ticketed? Why was he on the wrong street? What’s this rumour about feeding pigeons? And where is his lost ticket book? Bizarrely we warm to these characters; although some of their actions are laughable, such as Grant’s passion for parking or Jerome’s pride at the speed he can hook up a vehicle to his truck; they are all pretty believable. Take a geek, extrapolate their behaviour slightly and you’ve got the idea. The tension flags in the third quarter of the film, but overall, you’ll be amazed to find yourself genuinely caught up in the plight of these parking enforcers.

With jerky camerawork, staged break-ins underscored with funky music, editing which leaves in rather than takes out scenes of ineptitude, and illicit meetings with traffic cops, Goosen abandons all attempts to explain documentary making as art, and gets fully involved. He spends a day as a parking enforcer to identify with the subject, and sees that they serve a necessary social function. He attends staff training with earnest role-play and perfidious management speak. The film reaches a crisis complete with a testing of loyalties, high emotion, motivational speech, a search for truth, moral dilemmas, challenge and a stand-off.

This is the first documentary that the character Lonny Goosen has ever finished. The fictional characters he ropes in to assist him are as interesting as those in front of the camera. He ‘employs’ a new Russian sound engineer (although she pays his fines and provides all her own equipment) and her cousin, the long-suffering cameraman Gus, whom we never see but we hear his laconic comments, such as, “At least you’ve chosen something interesting this time.” The Delicate Art of Parking is an emotional roller coaster providing a humorous slant on one of society’s most maligned professions. It is sardonic and satirical while being charming and comical. Above all, it is very entertaining.

For full programme, venue and show details on this and other Comedy Festival events, visit comedyfestival.co.nz.