Uppsagd: When the office machine takes your job

Should you watch Uppsagd today? If you like old-school office dramas or are currently worried about AI taking your job, sure. If you need high-octane thrills or fast editing, you are going to be bored to tears. It is slow, it is very Swedish, and it feels like a relic from a different planet.

Björn Kraft is just your average, boring office worker. Then comes the machine. It is one of those clunky, oversized things that look like they could crush a human skull if you sneezed near the lever. Watching Björn realize he is being phased out by a hunk of metal is actually kind of painful.

The office scenes have this specific, stuffy feeling. You can almost smell the old paper and pipe tobacco through the screen. There is a moment where the boss is just so dismissive of Björn that you want to reach into the frame and do something about it. It’s not subtle, but it works.

The pacing is a bit weird. Sometimes it lingers on a scene of someone looking sad out of a window for way too long. Other times, major plot points happen between cuts. It is definitely not a movie for people who need constant stimulation. It feels more like a stage play that got lost on its way to a theater.

I couldn't help but think about how much we worry about computers now, compared to how they worried about basic calculators back then. The fear is exactly the same, though. That feeling of being useless because a machine can do your work in seconds.

If you enjoy this kind of vintage drama, you might also find some charm in Flickan från varuhuset. They share that same focus on the working life of the era, even if they go in different directions.

The acting is very much of its time. Everyone is a bit formal, maybe even a little stiff, but it adds to the whole vibe. There is a particular scene near the end that felt like it was just filler to get the runtime up, but hey, maybe I was just tired. ☕

It is not a masterpiece. It is just a movie about a guy losing his job. But sometimes, that is enough.