In Will Calkins’ On Guard, a fourteen-minute dramatic short, Jaime (Makenzie Pridgen) is an emotionally unstable fencer who tracks down her rival, Taylor (Sean Mikesh), demanding that they meet for a private after-hours duel. Taylor is there to practice, but Jaime has much more on her mind.
Once the electronic scoreboard lights up and they begin their match, Jaime transforms. Her quiet demeanor shifts to a sharp, barely contained aggression. Taylor treats the evening like sport, but for Jaime, this is something else entirely. Something she needs to prove, though what exactly remains deliberately unclear. As competitors, both are chasing perfection in a sport where there is only one winner. Taylor remembers this hunger because he’s lived it early in his own career.
“…an emotionally unstable fencer who tracks down her rival, Taylor (Sean Mikesh), demanding that they meet for a private after-hours duel.”
What’s striking about On Guard is how personal it is for filmmaker Will Calkins, who spent almost a decade as a competitive saber fencer before becoming a filmmaker. He wanted to examine the feelings fencing evoked in him: competitiveness, frustration, self-hatred, dedication. That’s the beauty of On Guard. It explores how sports shape us as human beings, for better or worse.
Beautifully performed by Makenzie Pridgen and Sean Mikesh, it’s the thoughtful story of adolescents learning lessons of adulthood and using their youthful experiences to learn from them. Common sense also tells you that a true competitor can capture fencing on film better than most. On Guard is incredible personal storytelling where its simple message says so much.
"…sports shape us as human beings, for better or worse."
