Film Reviews

Pyjama Girls

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• Details: Ireland / 70mins

You've seen them, right? Those girls, and women, strolling down the street or through the aisles of Dunnes in clothes designed for bedtime. How do you feel? Do you, like, get angry? Does the blood, like, boil? Do you think, 'Well, there's one person who isn't going to do anything constructive today'? Or do you care? Do you reckon everyone is entitled to wear what they want, when they want? Maya Derrington's documentary doesn't take any sides – she, like us, is interested in the why.
"Society doesn't give a toss about us so why should we give a toss about society?" asks Lauren, the teenage girl Derrington's camera focuses on throughout her first feature. Lauren, whose strong Ballyfermot accent has to be subtitled here (she's not the only one), confesses to being a smart girl in school – report cards were frequently dotted with As and Bs the year previous - but she got into trouble and was expelled. With her phone glued to her hand in her graffiti-strewn bedroom, Lauren talks about her mother who at sixteen started dealing drugs, got addicted and then went off the rails; Lauren has since lived with her grandmother Peggy. She calls the flats she lives in her home, so walking around the estate in PJs is the same as being in the house. That doesn't excuse the fairground or Spar, however.
But while the pyjamas-in-town style might be the perfect symbol for a lack of ambition of the wearer, it's goes above and beyond that for these girls - they see themselves at the forefront of a new fashion wave, that the pyjamas "will become a traditional thing." It's illuminating how far they see themselves from society - Lauren and her friends see the world in an 'us vs them' divide; 'Us' being the girls, 'them' being everyone else. Once scene sees other girls - girls that the Pyjama Girls call 'Babe-os', girls who think they are 'God's gift' - shopping for 'normal' clothes, why the PJ Girls are swooping about the pyjama section. Another scene sees Lauren and friend Tara on a bus egging for a fight when they see 'Babe-os' on another. There's a constant underlying aggression and frustration to the way they live their lives, coupled with a reluctance to do anything about it.
Derrington, whose fly-on-the-wall style allows Lauren and co. feel comfortable with the camera (and in turn allows them to show off), takes a non-judgemental approach to the subject and spends more time with the girls and their daily routine – the pyjama talk is kept to a minimum. What Derrington wants to do is let their lives speak for the reason why they feel compelled to wear pyjamas 24/7. This can be disappointing as it never gets to the root of the question but it's a surprisingly mature angle for a debut film and this won't be the last we hear of this director.

Review by Gavin Burke