The Job Hunt – Independent Film Review

Hello everyone Kevin of Film Fervor here bringing you another Independent film review. Today we will be traveling across the pond all the way to Wales and discussing the 2016 short documentary style comedy The Job Hunt directed by Danial Metcalf. Starring Callum Metcalf, Jacob Arnold and John Cuffe.

The Job Hunt is a fictional documentary following the trials and tribulations of the arrogant nineteen year old Callum as he tries to find a job in his native city of Pembrokeshire Wales with the help of a independent film crew. Callum is joined by his friend Jake who kindly offers to drive his destitute friend around to his interviews and offers the audience a glimpse behind the rude, arrogant persona Callum presents to the world. Shot over a short period of time it shows the transformation of Callum into a much more humble and focused person as he manages to score a final interview at a grocery store.

The Job Hunt does a very good job of recreating the same feel of a very low budget documentary. The cinematography is a bit of a mixed bag with it’s crystal clear, sharp picture quality that stays consistent throughout the entire film but this is however offset by the numerous shaky cam situations that are very distracting. In nearly every real documentary the film crews use a tripod to deliver a more professional product to their audience especially during the interview portions, The Job Hunt however forgets this in several places.

The Audio of The Job Hunt is also hit or miss as well. For the most part the voices of the actors comes in crisply and clearly but on two occasions you can barely hear what is being said even if you are wearing headphones. The equipment they used was not really the issue however, it was more of a mistake of where they put the lavaliere microphones on a couple of their actors. This is an easy mistake to make for a new film crew though but could have been caught in post production.

One true bright spot of The Job Hunt however is the acting. All of the actors play fictionalized versions of themselves and very much come across as genuine people living their mundane lives. Callum’s performance as a arrogant, self important teenager really does make you hope he continues to fail in finding a job and it is almost a relief when he finally manages to grow up a little right at the end. Both Jacob Arnold and John Cuffe represent two very different aspects of British culture with the Middle Class Jake’s overblown sense of self entitlement and John’s happy go lucky Working Class attitudes clashing while they “help” their mutual friend Callum who differs greatly from either young men.

The Job Hunt is billed as a comedy and as I have said many times that is the hardest genre to review (with the exception of maybe documentaries) so as you can guess this one was hard to pin down. I have always liked British humor, from Monty Python to the Blackadder serials but it is not for everyone and indeed The Job Hunt has very little in the way of laugh out loud moments. It is very dry and for the most part the characters are more rude instead of funny but if that is the sort of humor you enjoy you may find this film interesting.

The Job Hunt is a ultra low budget film shot on a meager budget of around four hundred pounds and is the first venture into the film industry by Daniel Metcalf and I have to say it shows promise for the young director and his troop. There were some minor technical flaws that I am sure will be worked out if he continues on with his career and he has already overcome the biggest hurdle that any Independent film maker has, he actually took a risk put out a completed project. This short twenty two minute feature is a prime example of what you can do even if it is your first time and should serve as a starting point for a interesting career.

I give The Job Hunt a three out of five.