Shirkers (2018)
89%RT Audience Score: 79%
Awards & Nominations: 8 wins & 32 nominations
Shirkers uses one woman’s interrogation of a pivotal personal disappointment to offer affecting observations on creativity, lost opportunity, and coming to terms with the past.
Shirkers is like a time capsule of indie filmmaking in the 90s, but with a twist of mystery and intrigue. It’s a coming-of-age story, a love letter to cinema, and a true crime documentary all rolled into one. Sandi Tan’s narration is witty and self-aware, making you feel like you’re hanging out with a cool friend who’s telling you a wild story. And the fact that it’s all based on true events just adds to the fascination. If you’re a fan of quirky, offbeat films, Shirkers is a must-watch.
Production Company(ies)
Focus Features, Anonymous Content This Is That Productions,
Distributor
Netflix
Release Type
Streaming, Streaming (Netflix), Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
MPAA / Certificate
TV-14
Year of Release
2018
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby
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Aspect ratio:1.78 : 1
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Runtime:1h 36m
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Language(s):
-
Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Oct 26, 2018 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 26, 2018
Genre(s)
Documentary
Keyword(s)
Shirkers, documentary, Sandi Tan, Jessica Levin, Maya Rudolph, English, recovered footage, personal odyssey, lost opportunity, creativity, coming to terms with the past, insouciance, precocious maturity, D.I.Y cinempowerment, true-crime mystery, nostalgia, vulnerable, personal, failure, artistic ambitions, stolen footage, regret, time capsule, ethereal quality, Netflix, box office performance, budget, MPAA rating, reviewed by Ela Bittencourt, David Fear, Peter Rainer, Walter V Addiego, Jonathan Romney, Alissa Wilkinson, Brett Michael Dykes, Taylor Baker, Kanishk Devgan, Natasha Alvar, Dustin Chang, starring Sandi Tan, directed by Sandi Tan, produced by Jessica Levin, produced by Maya Rudolph, produced by Sandi Tan, cinematographer Iris Ng, film editing by Lucas Celler
Worldwide gross: NA
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): NA
US/Canada gross: NA
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Jessica Levin – Producer
Maya Rudolph – Producer
Sandi Tan – Producer
Iris Ng – Cinematographer
Lucas Celler – Film Editing
Director(s)
Sandi Tan
Writer(s)
NA
Producer(s)
Jessica Levin, Maya Rudolph, Sandi Tan
Film Festivals
Sundance
Awards & Nominations
8 wins & 32 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (71) | Top Critics (26) | Fresh (70) | Rotten (1)
An irresistible mix of insouciance and precocious maturity. Much of its charm lies in Tan’s ironic irreverence as the film’s narrator.
February 21, 2020
Ela Bittencourt
Hyperallergic
TOP CRITIC
What Tan has given us is an incredible, sui generis tribute to the international lingua franca of D.I.Y. cinempowerment.
December 26, 2018 | Rating: 4/5
David Fear
Rolling Stone
TOP CRITIC
It’s a charming, wistful movie, and I trust Tan will not have to wait another 20 years to direct her next film.
December 7, 2018 | Rating: B+
Peter Rainer
Christian Science Monitor
TOP CRITIC
The movie is many things at once.
November 28, 2018 | Rating: 3/4
Walter V. Addiego
San Francisco Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
On one level, Shirkers is a memoir – a fond, self-deprecating mulling-over of Tan’s crazy, inspired, partly embarrassing but furiously creative youth.
October 30, 2018
Jonathan Romney
Film Comment Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Deeply personal, fabulously engrossing.
October 29, 2018 | Rating: 4.5/5
Alissa Wilkinson
Vox
TOP CRITIC
Tan approaches it from a true-crime mystery angle, stripping it of any nostalgia that might tint her lense.
December 29, 2021
Brett Michael Dykes
Uproxx
Episode 19: Shirkers / Monrovia, Indiana / The House That Jack Built
September 3, 2021 | Rating: 40/100
Taylor Baker
Drink in the Movies
The film is nostalgic, vulnerable, and personal, and in being so, makes you attach yourself to it like almost nothing else.
March 29, 2021
Kanishk Devgan
Film Companion
Shirkers is so good, it just blows everything else out of the water.
March 7, 2021 | Rating: A
Natasha Alvar
MovieBabble
Independent filmmaking is truly a medium of self expression but because it’s a communal medium, being an asshole is an absolute necessity- it’s a very narcissistic endeavor. Shirkers is a very entertaining, touching concoction film about filmmaking.
February 13, 2021
Dustin Chang
Floating World
Shirkers forces us to confront a world that will never give us all the answers.
February 9, 2021
Fletcher Powell
KMUW – Wichita Public Radio…
Plot
In 1992, Sandi Tan shoots Singapore’s first road movie with her American mentor, Georges, who absconds with all of the footage, but 20 years later, the 16mm film is recovered, sending Tan on a personal odyssey in search of Georges’ footprints in the documentary “Shirkers.”
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Shirkers is directed by Sandi Tan, who also serves as a producer on the film.
Sandi-Tan.jpg
