The Philosopher Kings, dir. Patrick Shen

The real geniuses of the world go largely unnoticed: the ones who keep us all going are usually never identified or celebrated. If you’ve ever worked in retail or in the food industry, you know this. You know this if you’ve ever been a caretaker or done some job that someone else pays to not do. Perhaps the simplest and most notable version of this is custodians; this film follows the custodians of the most prestigious colleges and institutions of this country through their days. The Transcendental Film Company has a goal to create films that “agitate the sleep of mankind.” This does that. Not in a way that makes you horrified or scared, but in a way that makes you curious. Why in the world do we assume we know about people because of their work or their uniform? The men and women in this film are philosophers, for sure; they’ve figured it out—they’re artistic and creative and craving life. Jim Evener works at Cornell, and even though he should probably be in the classroom—teaching ivy league kids a thing or two about life—he’s cleaning floors and emptying trash cans. And that’s okay; in fact, it's absolutely necessary.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBF4Wa7zw-0]

-Micah Ling