![Shabu and friend relaxing in inflatable pink hearts in a pool](https://media.guim.co.uk/3fab8add4a29fc6b7eb8572d66de4e216d767e12/180_0_1688_1013/1000.jpg)
Fourteen-year-old Shabu has crashed his grandmother’s car and finds himself in the dog house with his extended family in Peperklip, a housing complex in Rotterdam. He must put aside his dreams of musical stardom and his budding romance with Stephany, and work to pay off his debt over the summer.
A kid grudgingly selling homemade popsicles on the street is not the most obvious choice for a documentary subject, but in the irrepressible Shabu, Shamira Raphaëla’s charming film finds an immensely likable and charismatic subject. The film skates in the grey area between factual and fiction film-making, but Shabu’s coming of age and growth as a human being is persuasive, affecting and authentic.