Screen Spotlight

Home / Movie Categories / Drama / The Human Resources Manager

Browse by Category

Hot New Movies

Box Office Numbers

$	55.6M	Marvel's The Avengers
$	25.5M	Battleship
$	17.4M	The Dictator
$	12.5M	Dark Shadows
$	10.5M	What to Expect When You're Expecting
As of May 21, 2012

Hollywood Gossip, Tidbits, and News

An office worker has been fired for her whistle, distracting nice boobs, figure and look at that...Maria Menounos gained 6 pounds on Dancing with the Has Beens. Kristen Stewart is number 15 on Maxim's 100 Hot List. I wonder how her acting ranks on the S*it List? These days Hugh Hefner spends more time in the kitchen than in the bedroom. John Mayer regrets dissing Jessica Simpson and Jen Aniston in interviews. We just regret John Mayer. Is Bar Rafaeli the hottest woman in the world? Dude, your girlfriend is the hottest woman in the world and don't you ever forget it! Justin Bieber is dating high school students? Man guys at that age are so impressionable. Kate Gosselin says she and Jon have made peace. Awww, that's special. Once their fame ran out they stopped cheating. That's really sweet. Why does Kelly Clarkson lose weight when she's only going to put it back on? Heidi Klum felt more special as a blond. Ah, the world's most profound questions answered as only a super model can.

A man has broken the world record for fist pumping by pumping for 17 hours. My god what an achievement, but we are overlooking how raw his penis must be. The President of Yahoo has been forced to resign because he made an inflated claim on his resume. Meanwhile, in other news, Barak Obama ate dog. Robert Pattinson is 27 going on 17, good for you RSchmuck, I mean RPutz. Are Jennifer Aniston and John Mayer an item again? Is Jessica Simpson's body still a wonderland? Yes, it's just we are wondering why her territory doubled in size. Is Jay-Z acting like a wild bachelor on the prowl? With a name like Jay-Z I don't think any of us really care. Drake is romancing two cougars? Man, dude's a zookeeper. Does Casper Smart enjoy his five minutes of fame? Is that all he lasts for? Lightweight. Rihanna was recently hospitalized for too much partying. It's ok though, let's keep the focus on Lindsay Lohan, she's white after all. Christina Aguilera is quitting The Voice. John Travolta is not gay, he just like's dudes.

Mariah and Nick renew their vows in Paris? I bet he showed her the Eiffel Tower. Truth be told, it might have been more like the leaning tower of Pisa. Gwyneth Paltrow has post partum depression. Me too, but it has been quite a while since I was in the womb. Kim K and Lindsay Lohan will attend the White House Correspondent's Dinner. I guess they wanted to see who has the best lines, and I'm not talking about comedy. Jessica Simpson has a baby shower? What is it like 2 feet tall and a tiny water head? Weirdo. Ellen DeGeneres is a Vegan? I thought she ate meat every night! Jenny McCarthy loves Botox. She loves silicon too. Richard Simmons has flammable shorts. Molly Ringwald drinks Kristen Stewart's blood. But alas it's not that time of the month yet. Want to see Taylor Lautner pics? Then go see Breaking Dawn Part 2. Lisa Rinna does advertisements for adult diapers. That's a coincidence because the first time I saw her naked I shit my pants!

Katy Perry dyes her hair purple. That's quite a change from the pink it was last week. Kelsey Grammar has proven you are never too old to get a tattoo or a Viagra prescription. Nicole Kidman does not mind being naked. Trust me when I tell you we don't mind either. Ashton Kutcher is having "intercourse" with Mila Kunis. One more time for those of you from Port Saint Lucie Florida, that's "intercourse". Who's is bigger Angelina's or Jennifer's? What are we talking about? Just ask Brad Pitt, he'll tell you! Seal has a new girlfriend and her name is whatshernameIdon'tcare. Will Pippa Middleton face arrest? Will switching to Progressive really give you better discounts? Taylor Armstrong is "so not ready to date yet". Wait, I don't speak moron, does that mean she wants to date or not? Bow Wow is no longer a wanted man but that doesn't answer the question who let the dogs out?

J-Lo bought Casper Smart a truck for his birthday. Hey, we already know where he likes to park it! Lamar Odom you are fired! Thanks for playing, next time leave the 500lb gorilla at home. Yeah, we are talking to you Kardashian. NBC's Rock Center has coverage more lopsided than Brian Williams' face. Miley Cyrus is not anorexic, she just eats lots of laxatives, get it? LOL? Ann Hathaway's hair is so short she looks like Jerry Seinfeld and there is nothing funny about that. Jennifer Hudson will appear at a murder trial. As a witness or as a defendant? Ah who keeps up with the Kardashians anyway. Khloe Kardashian says Lamar Odom deserved better from the Mavericks. Khloe, try running your fat ass up a basketball court and then you can talk. Is Lindsay Lohan guilty of assault? Only because she attacked my heart. Awwwww. Mila Kunis or Kate Upton? It depends, which one did Justin Timberlake already date? After being arrested for a DUI Amanda Bynes went back to her hotel bar. Maybe it's time she went back to acting because she sure plays a dumbass great in real life.

Hot New Movies

Screen Spotlight Featured Reviews

The Human Resources Manager

Written by Jonathan Jacobs

The Human Resources Manager, an Israeli film directed by Eran Yiklis, is nothing if not morbidly fascinating. The H.R. director (Mark Ivanir) from Israel’s most prominent and successful baking factory must play the role of Colombo or Sherlock Holmes as it were. An employee, a young woman named Yulia has been slaughtered in a suicide bombing. Adding insult to injury, this particular bomber was herself a woman with murderous intent. In Israel since its founding, violence and anti-Jewish attacks have been commonplace. They are disgusting and impact nearly every Jewish citizen of the world, but they happen with unfortunate frequency. The real story is not the manner in which Yulia died; it is her connection with the human resource manager’s company that is complicated.

The H.R. manager investigates why Yulia stopped working for his company nearly a month prior to her death yet she continued to remain in their system as “employed”. She earned at least one paycheck for doing absolutely nothing. While investigating this anomaly, Mr. H.R. manager finds out the night foreman had fallen in love with Yulia despite being married. They shared cigarette breaks and had an unfortunate and ill-timed romance. Yulia worked as a cleaning woman scrubbing the floors of the bakery. She was kept illegally on the payroll by her boyfriend. This gesture would have been acceptable as a show of concern and basic humanity but no good deed goes unpunished.

On account of the bakery listing Yulia as a company worker, they are forced to go into full damage control mode as a result of her death while in their employ. The owner, known only as “the widow” (Gila Almagor) demands that her hand-picked H.R. manager take care of every little detail to avoid a companywide scandal. Apparently, there is a tabloidist following their every move. He photographs the H.R manager nearby the coffin purchased by the company for the deceased.

Mr. H.R. is getting divorced and can never seem to find the time to spend with his ailing daughter. When he is ordered by the widow and Yulia’s family to bring her coffin to the frozen tundra in the Soviet Union (really filmed in Romania), H.R. is in danger of missing his daughter’s school trip. Every step of the way there is a complication. Many of the bureaucratic ineptitudes they face in the cross-country sojourn are labeled as “comical” by many, but to me they are morbid and unusual.

The insistence on emphasizing the bakery’s complicity despite the facts sets up for a bizarre premise that I do not feel is realistically sustainable. Yulia is Christian and her family wants her cremated, yet she is carted around by a mere H.R. manager in an expensive coffin like the Queen of England all for positive public relations. Shepherding a cleaning woman through the mountains is certainly not your ordinary joy ride. Yulia, like anyone else deserves a proper send off, but her life is glamorized in a sense by the pains the H.R. manager, the muckraker and the widow take to secure her place with her elderly mother in the middle of nowhere.

The Human Resources Manager will not make it onto my list of terrific independent films this or any other year. It starts out with a hint of sleuth work and mystery but it ends with the abuse of comedy and ineptitude. The film drags on for far too long and what originally seemed like a good concept turned into a bore and a snore. Watch this one only if you are a serious movie enthusiast that loves foreign films. This is no Ajami, that’s for sure!