Off Hour

The blaring, eerie rhythm of life comes to a sudden screeching halt in "Off Hour", the story of Bruno, in search of meaning in a seemingly meaningless world. A handsome vagrant in need of work and a good meal, Bruno lands a job at the docks, a cacophonic post-industrial maelstrom of sights, sounds, movements and actions. With his beloved trumpet slung over his shoulder, Bruno struggles to make sense of a senseless world, of the chaos, which is order, and of the aimless, repetitive physical toil which rules life at the docklands. Everything is in constant pointless motion in this mystical dreamscape, but what is the hidden force, which keeps this world moving? Bruno is the rebel who dares to ask "why", and this quest for knowledge drives him ever forward toward his destiny. Bruno's cohorts, a bedraggled bunch of lowly longshoreman, have no idea what to make of the majestic Thor, who magically appears to them like a god from on high. With his strapping physique and his commanding presence, Thor confronts these men, issuing an urgent, incessant, otherworldly rhythm from the monumental alphorn which he never ceases to play. Thor is here on his own quest, for a salvation which he believes is to be found in this grim place of toil and tears within the untarnished soul of one of this world's denizens. Tender, pitiful Claudette arrives on the scene, astride her rusty bicycle, like a breath of Spring. Too young and innocent to comprehend her loneliness and isolation, it is hard for her to understand what she hungers for most, food or human contact. She is instinctively drawn to Thor, who ages rapidly with each note he sounds on his mysterious alphorn. Claudette strives to help him, to take over his burden, but she is not strong enough. There is only one man who can help save the day, and in one simple guileless act of thievery, this lithe young creature literally helps set the world in motion