A documentary tracking a day in the life of three gig workers - driver, content creator, and dogwalker - goes off the rails in this satirical comedy directed by Jake Fertig. “Gigging” takes aim at the gig economy which finds desperate freelancers working for pennies to support tech behemoths. Framed in the mode of puff piece (if not for the inherent exploitation), the film is carried out with rich irony and hilarious performances. Marc drives Uber to pick up some extra cash for “his” wedding (not his, “his” as in his stepfather’s third wedding) while being treated as subhuman by his passengers (“hi can we actually not talk.”) Arthur, an aspiring filmmaker, ‘fucks’ with Fiverr, a company that pays him next to nothing to direct a commercial for a half-baked start-up called Chunky Bottoms. Maybel walks dogs for Rover, but mainly uses it to generate social media content for herself about the life lessons of dogs (if she barely gets paid, at least she can generate vlog content). The trick of the film and why the comedy hits, is that each subject has internalized the propaganda that these are decent opportunities (“I think it’s better to not have health care”) and play it straight even when forced to extremes.

Director: Jake Fertig. Cast: Max Knoblauch, Francis Agyapong Jr., Lida Darmian, Ben Stanton, Kristen Laffey, Anders Lee, Marine Brun-Franzetti. DP/Editor: Jake Fertig. Producers: Jake Fertig, Max Knoblauch. Sound Designer: Dylan Nowik.