Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
In 1992, teenager Sandi Tan shot Singapore's first indie road movie with her enigmatic American mentor Georges – who then vanished with all the footage. Twenty years later, the 16mm film is recovered, sending Tan, now a novelist in Los Angeles, on a personal odyssey in search of Georges' vanishing footprints.
Shirkers is a genuinely singular documentary — part personal essay, part mystery, part meditation on creative theft and female ambition. The recovered 16mm footage is visually stunning and the framing of the story is inventive and deeply felt. The narrative structure (true crime meets coming-of-age memoir meets cinephile love letter to Singapore) is unlike almost anything else in documentary form, earning high marks for Novelty and Cinematography. The plot is inherently compelling as a real-life mystery with rich thematic layers. Acting is inapplicable in the traditional sense — the subjects are compelling but uneven as on-screen presences. The ending provides emotional closure but doesn't fully resolve the central enigma of Georges, leaving it somewhat deflated relative to the build-up.