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The Parking Lot Movie Image

Generally favorable reviews - based on 4 Critics What's this?

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  • Summary: "It's not just a parking lot, it's a battle with humanity." The Parking Lot Movie is a documentary about a singular parking lot in Charlottesville, Virginia and the select group of parking lot attendants that inhabit its microcosm. The attendants are a uniquely varied group of men from the local Charlottesville, Virginia environment. They are comprised of undergraduate and graduate students, artists, musicians, intellectuals, philosophers and marginal-type characters. They all work under the banner of parking lot chief and ringleader Chris Farina. Farina himself is a fascinating sociological study. A native of an Italian immigrant family from Baltimore, Maryland, Farina is a graduate from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He took over a lease of a then-struggling parking lot in 1986 and turned it into an extremely dynamic business model with an iconic local flavor and storied history. As Farina states, "For these guys that I hire, it's like becoming part of a tradition, like the marines going all the way back to Tripoli." A strange rite of passage for all involved - everything from cars and license plates, class struggles, capitalism, anger, justice, drunkenness, and awareness receive daily scrutiny and detailing. For these denizens of Charlottesville, the intersection between the status quo and the quest for freedom becomes the challenge. Something as simple as a parking lot becomes an emotional weigh station for The American Dream. In the end, as one attendant interestingly puts it, "We had it all in a world that had nothing to offer us." Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 4
  2. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. A quirky documentary about, yes, a parking lot, is probably not unlike working at such a lot: there are long stretches when not much happens, but every once in a while there's a burst of activity that is kind of enthralling.
  2. 70
    Their sense of superiority toward the petty SUV drivers and rude midlife-crisisers who frequent the lot is matched by introspective considerations of traditional social contracts.
  3. An uplifting, high energy documentary.
  4. Reviewed by: Ronnie Scheib
    Unfortunately, picture's concept doesn't stretch to 74 minutes.
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. Apr 10, 2012
    Wow what a great movie! I'm a little biased though because i grew up in charlottesville and this is truly a testament to why i love charlottesville so much. Expand