The Automat Review

Trickle-down ideas for capitalist megacorporations are detailed with glee in this rapid-paced documentary piece on Horn & Hardart. The inspiration behind Starbucks and the business model that came from it, The Automat is a sensible approach to the importance and subsequent community angles built into a business hoping to sell cups of coffee to couples and individuals seeking out a place to rest. That in of itself is an interesting enough perspective, to take on that would take some big names – but the issue there is that the likes of Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner attempt to make this Lisa Hurwitz piece focus on something bigger than it actually was. The Automat pulls out all the stops to make itself a bigger concept than the story actually presented.

Although it rises in three acts, the key moments that showcase the uplifting music paired with nostalgia bait for older generations are clear as day. The Automat suffers tremendously because of it, even if the editing is stylish and the narration is solid. Brooks’ initial admittance that mentioning Horn & Hardat is reminiscent to few is enough evidence to note that this is a puff piece for those that want to reminisce. Those that do reminisce are likeable and delicate, they bring the charm of the individual to the experience but nothing more. They do not successfully reach the point of The Automat, a documentary that should be about the experience and history of the so-called legendary establishment, but are instead about the people who used it, and what it means to them.

Sloppily paced that may be, it is at least heart-warming to see the old folks reminisce about the glory days of a business that meant a lot to them. Whether people feel the same about Starbucks five decades from now is very, very different. Excitement over pie exchanged for nickels and dimes is a very specific experience that is not translated to the feature. It does not feel all that interesting, Brooks constantly interjects that while he misses the place, nobody else does. He interjects often that not only is it a useless endeavour to document such a niche location but that it would need to be stretched over an hour. That is correct, and the stretch comes in such a scattershot manner. Starting with the end, and then the beginning, then trying to figure out what The Automat wants to do with itself.

Hurwitz’s work on this is completely loose and unable to construct any sort of narrative that benefits the history of an already dull piece. In interviews that are so loose and tiring, questions are raised and never answered while musical cues and fades to black are thrown in and out. Brooks does not appear to be all that bothered, rattling off his own life story rather than that of the establishment. It is frustrating, unforgivable stuff that completely misses the keys and cues necessary to learning anything at all about Horn & Hardart or the influences it had on Starbucks. Horrible stuff that does not rely on those that were intimately involved with the automat but with those that are dependent on the history of it, those that rattle it off for no good reason.