SunDay. The Gospel According to Lift-Man Albertas

Although it consists of only 20 shots, is a rich allegory that one can read in several different ways. Religious references and allusions to Samuel Beckett's urge themselves upon us, and Matelis's view of reality is just as sad as it is humorous. His subject, the elevator operator Albertas, appears to be frozen in time. He spends his monotone days waiting for the one or two people who need him to take them up or down. But his attitude is serene, and his waiting connects him to the world around him. The director observes mercilessly, melancholically and with a subdued strength. When cars quickly move through one another at the end of the film, Albertas's simple loneliness takes on almost a spiritual dimension.