I Would Prefer You Watch This Bartleby Short Film

You may already know this, but I have an enthusiasm for creative adaptations of Herman Melville’s works. That said, I wasn’t particularly excited to watch yet another short film based on “Bartleby, the Scrivener”, as a) I didn’t expect to see an innovative take on it and b) I think Office Space pretty well covered it.

Instead, I think this is one of better film adaptations I’ve ever seen of a literary classic, capturing the narrative of the original short story while also updating it to the contemporary era. It’s by By the By Productions, written/directed/produced by Laura Naylor and Kristen Kee.

Here is the film:

Part of me wants to editorialize this more. To explain the things I like best about it, why it lands so well, how, like the original, it’s mildly funny and thoroughly heartbreaking and consistently frustrating.

I still might argue that Office Space is the best adaptation of Bartleby, the Scrivener ever made and that it’s possible no one will ever top it.

But this short film is, and will remain, a close second.