Usher

The Job Defines The Man

Ash is a young hit man who falls on hard times and gets a job in a movie theatre. He can't handle it. Ash finds himself faced with the everyday frustrations of the workplace, and embroiled in the petty romances and power struggles of the high-school-aged employees. Unable to comprehend the unique social and moral rules of this environment, he begins to break down and lose touch with reality. When a cocky kid from the hot dog store next door starts putting the moves on Ash's favorite candy girl, Ash decides it's up to him to protect her. Eventually his presumed training as a killer resurfaces as his last defense. On the surface, USHER is a "genre-based" drama (the story of a "hit man in hiding"), but placed in a controlled, determined, work-based setting (a movie theatre), to explore the quieter reaches of the genre. It's by turns romantic, a thriller, and a meditation on art, its consumption and presumptions.