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Shirkers, 2018
In 1990s Singapore, a group of rebellious teenagers--Sandi, Sophie, and Jasmine--wrote and directed a road trip film called Shirkers. Helping them out was an adult man named Georges who assisted with camera work and production coordination. But on completing the film, Georges absconds with all of the film's materials and then stops any contact with the girls. Years later, the footage resurfaces. In this documentary, Sandi brings us along as she investigates who Georges really was and what really happened during the production of their movie.
"I know I'll never get all of my friends in the same place, at the same time, ever again." This film is much more than a mystery around a lost movie. It's an investigation of what it means to lose a dream, and what it means to feel that a critical piece of your youth has been taken from you.
This documentary is compelling on so many levels. At a basic level, it's inspiring and invigorating to see a portrait of such youthful people creating what looks to have been a visually striking, daring movie before they were even out of high school. Their stories of shoestring budget filmmaking would be impressive if they were adults, much less kids.
In the middle of the film, the focus shifts to understanding the behavior and motivations of Georges, uncovering different stories and dynamics that paint a damning picture of a man who got some sort of sick satisfaction out of sabotaging the passion projects of other people. Sandi learns that their musician friend wrote an entire soundtrack for the movie, only to have Georges steal it and then banned him from the set. As she investigates further, she finds a man in America who had some eerily similar interactions.
Finally, the film comes around to examining how it is that a person copes with the kind of loss that they experienced. While the women have all gone on to do neat things with their lives, there is always this early betrayal. Further, there are lingering resentments--overtly expressed by Jasmine--that they were giving warning signs about Georges that Sandi simply ignored.
This film does an amazing job of serving as a lovely elegy for the movie they lost and being its own compelling piece of cinema.
Shirkers, 2018
In 1990s Singapore, a group of rebellious teenagers--Sandi, Sophie, and Jasmine--wrote and directed a road trip film called Shirkers. Helping them out was an adult man named Georges who assisted with camera work and production coordination. But on completing the film, Georges absconds with all of the film's materials and then stops any contact with the girls. Years later, the footage resurfaces. In this documentary, Sandi brings us along as she investigates who Georges really was and what really happened during the production of their movie.
"I know I'll never get all of my friends in the same place, at the same time, ever again." This film is much more than a mystery around a lost movie. It's an investigation of what it means to lose a dream, and what it means to feel that a critical piece of your youth has been taken from you.
This documentary is compelling on so many levels. At a basic level, it's inspiring and invigorating to see a portrait of such youthful people creating what looks to have been a visually striking, daring movie before they were even out of high school. Their stories of shoestring budget filmmaking would be impressive if they were adults, much less kids.
In the middle of the film, the focus shifts to understanding the behavior and motivations of Georges, uncovering different stories and dynamics that paint a damning picture of a man who got some sort of sick satisfaction out of sabotaging the passion projects of other people. Sandi learns that their musician friend wrote an entire soundtrack for the movie, only to have Georges steal it and then banned him from the set. As she investigates further, she finds a man in America who had some eerily similar interactions.
Finally, the film comes around to examining how it is that a person copes with the kind of loss that they experienced. While the women have all gone on to do neat things with their lives, there is always this early betrayal. Further, there are lingering resentments--overtly expressed by Jasmine--that they were giving warning signs about Georges that Sandi simply ignored.
This film does an amazing job of serving as a lovely elegy for the movie they lost and being its own compelling piece of cinema.