The Plagiarists, co-written by James N. Kienitz Wilkins and Robin Schavoir, is receiving an exclusive global online premiere on MUBI, showing from February 13 – March 13, 2019 in The New Auteurs series.
The Plagiarists is a movie which probably does not have a natural habitat. The space it purports to stem from (indie comedy) is somewhat artificial and certainly not native to its existence, which is perhaps more formal. By this same token, its concepts and themes are not essential, either. We would say that hybridizing comedy with these other facets allows the movie to circulate, develop and perhaps give ideas some air that they would not have without.
There’s maybe two small things that are useful to know before watching The Plagiarists. The first is that it was shot on Betacam SP videotape. Actual videotape, which is why it looks the way it looks. The second is that the editing cleaves very closely to the original screenplay. The structure and all its idiosyncrasies were written into the screenplay from the start, and at risk of minimizing the role of the director, production was mainly a side effect: the act of getting it done. We recommend reading about the movie after… it doesn’t end with the credits.