Wendy Fong (Chantelle Han) is a young chemical engineer trapped inside a monotonous and ethically fraught existence. When she describes her tedious daily routine to a friend over drinks, her friend replies, “Welcome to real life.”
“Circle of Steel,” writer-director Gillian McKercher’s feature debut, is about many things: loneliness, friendship, existential crisis. But mostly, the film is a subdued, engrossing portrait of “real life.” Told with a striking narrative and visual verisimilitude, “Circle of Steel” follows Wendy as she navigates her career, relationships, and identity while working in Canada’s controversial oil and gas industry. Wendy’s life is permeated by acute existential dread, as personal uncertainty and impending layoffs make her future unclear.
McKercher based much of “Circle of Steel” on her own firsthand experience. She’s something of a Renaissance woman; while completing her BS in Chemical Engineering, she also practiced filmmaking. She worked concurrently in engineering and film, until she decided to pursue filmmaking full time. “Circle of Steel,” McKercher says in the film’s press kit, was “inspired by the time when I worked as a field engineer for the world’s largest upstream oil and gas company.” Everything in the film, she adds, “is based on true events.” Ultimately, McKercher hopes her first feature will express “field life in its fullest form: the loneliness and boredom, but also the camaraderie, humor, and compassion.”
It’s no surprise that McKercher suffused “Circle of Steel” with her own lived experience; the characters, setting, and conflicts all ring true. From the intimate conversations between Wendy and a friend about loneliness to the bar that Wendy and her co-workers haunt, every element of the film feels utterly authentic.
Han’s turn as Wendy, a brilliant young woman of color navigating the rigid world of engineering, is especially compelling. Han imbues her performance with equal parts confidence and restraint. Wendy’s inner conflict is apparent in her demeanor; she’s curious but reticent, driven but rootless. While McKercher based some of Wendy on herself, she says the character is more “an amalgamation of many women whom I know in the [oil and gas] industry.” She’s clear on what delineates her and her protagonist: “Wendy’s curiosity of a ‘what if’ life outside of the petroleum industry is weaker than my own. Simply, I’m more misanthropic and more optimistic than Wendy.”
Despite its bleak and frigid Alberta setting, McKercher manages to make “Circle of Steel” an undeniably beautiful film, especially in its framing and its landscape footage. McKercher captures places and people tenderly and depicts even the most mundane settings with style. The film is a promising feature debut — hopefully, it’s a harbinger for many films we’ll see from McKercher.
“Circle of Steel” has screened on the festival circuit, including Cinequest, Reelworld, and Calgary International Film Festival, where it won the Alberta Feature Audience Choice Award.
Upcoming screenings:
April 12, 2019 – Asian Pop-Up Cinema – Chicago, IL
Published monthly, Under the Radar offers a chance for us to highlight works by and/or about women that haven’t received big releases or significant coverage in the press, but are wholly worthy of attention.
To recommend a title for this feature, please e-mail womenandhollywoodinterns@gmail.com.
