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Nowadays everything is recorded. It has been this way for quite some time but now more than ever, the day to day movements we make have a chance to go viral. Often against our choice. God forbid we spill coffee in public, we can almost expect it to become blasted on TikTok. But there are those that choose to document their life in hopes of not just fame but connection with others who may be dealing with similar issues or even triumphs. To explain this to someone who grew up in the early 2000’s wouldn’t be all that mindboggling. The internet was rising, Y2K didn’t kill us, and in a post ‘Real World’ era many people enjoyed learning how to use the family camcorder to make silly videos with their friends and family. But what if someone told you those silly videos you made during your age of puberty, you know the ones where you were as weird as you’d ever be would one day be aired for the entire world to see? Many would be horrified since so many of us have moved on from that strange little kid we once were. But what if the releasing of these videos, songs or dances we once recorded didn’t just go viral but also gave you a chance to reevaluate a time that needed a warm embrace. SUMMER 2000: THE X-CETRA STORY directed by Ayden Mayeri, documents the peculiar rise of a 2000’s girl pop group that never expected any of their music to move past the basements of their California suburban homes. After making a DIY album in the 2000’s titled ‘Stardust’ with the help of a musician mom and her producer partner the girls group named X-Cetra found a second life thirty something years later. It is far from the strangest occurrence in the music industry however what cannot be denied is the power of girlhood and even amongst its complications SUMMMER 2000 is a fascinating documentary on four women are given a second life to fall right back into girlhood. To have that second chance. Many a times we get to revisit our childhood due to trauma or loss of a family member but the women of X-Cetra get the real opportunity to do so thanks to an occurrence of joy and hopefulness. Revisiting that adolescence may seem nerve wracking at time but when you get to do it with friends you get to see that the weird little kid you were was actually always pretty damn cool.

Four girls, now four women, SUMMER 2000 is a blend of current footage mixed in with the real home videos that were made by Ayden Mayeri, Jessica Hall, Janet Kariuki and Mary Washburn. To compare them to the Spice Girls or Destiny’s Child is more than accurate. Ayden sometimes seen as the leader (although she’d run from the title) with Jessica strongest in the song writing while sisters Janet and younger Mary become the glue of exciting chaos that led these girls to make both amusing while also striking music. Some reading this may even be familiar with X-Cetra. To quickly tell the story of how they rose to fame, it involves their solo album “Stardust” finding its way to subreddit threads, online discussion forms and eventually to a record label called The Numero Group. This niche side of the internet and now the self-described “Criterion Collection” of music producers all wanted to know the story of the young girls who made such haunting and often far beyond their age tracks. But who exactly was X-Cetra?

With Mayeri herself steering the ship of the doc you get an honest firsthand account of the band’s past. Mayeri now a working actress literally opens up her diary to let us into the headspace of a preteen girl. She discuss everything from how cute Freddie Prinze Jr is to awkwardly discovering what IHOP stands for in a diary entry dated September 11, 2001. Janet now working in finance became the guard for her younger sister Mary a role that fell apart as the years went on, while Jessica continued to explore the music scene during her post college years. The doc doesn’t need to do any heavy lifting to convince you of their friendship. Any woman reading this and especially millennials can connect to a time where slap bracelets, pig-Latin and the Backstreet Boys dominated the zeitgeist. But what cannot ever be explained is the feeling of femineity shared between these girls at an age right before the chaos of high school determined who they felt they should be rather than who they want to be. Ayden explains it best early on describing that those that you go through puberty with see you at your absolute weirdest. There is a constant acceptance early on in SUMMER 2000 as the doc explores a time that even when the girls dealt with bigger issues they still had one another and X-Cetra to return to. It helps that all four were very creative and imaginative allowing for their videos to be just as amusing and intentionally as funny as anything you’d find Molly Shannon doing on an SNL episode.

SUMMER 2000 may bask in the early aughts portion of its doc but it also seems to be heavily focused (and rightfully so) on healing wounds of the past with its more prolonged portion of today that brings these four together (some seeing each other in person for the first time in years). The new goal, with the help of some heavy hitters in the music production scene (including Billie Eilish’s dance trainer), is to make new song to go along with their album release (now properly produced on Vinyl) oh yea and manifest a Rolling Stones magazine feature. But what lies beneath all this and comes out quickly is how those junior high and high school years caused a great rift between the girls. A common occurrence but all four dealt with not just the reality of boyfriends but more so men who didn’t treat them right or men that they felt they needed to save. The doc never strays away from the unfortunate reality of older men seeking out younger girls or the pain of wanting to help your friend but also being so frustrated with them. There is the neglect put on Mary as the the two year gap in age began to feel like decades as well as the distance between Janet and Mary’s mom Robin O’ Brien, who helped make “Stardust.” Robin a huge presence in all four of their childhood’s formed the album with her partner Don Campau and while there is a never-ending gratitude towards the help and guidance Robin gave them (and continues to do so) the doc also finds itself in darker moments involving Robin’s distance towards tragic events the girls went through. It allows SUMMER 2000 to always be honest which while expected in a doc isn’t always given. There is a sense from all four women that their most awkward phase is out for the world to see and many have embraced it with love so there is a sense willingness to allow everyone the full story. And there is nothing more honest than a woman opening up her diary for the world to hear.

Refacing the trauma grows into the guiding point of SUMMER 2000 and while the film does seem to rush through the exciting days of the 2000’s it is in service of allowing these women to reconnect. Sometimes the doc feels tailormade for millennials (including this critic) as it doesn’t harbor on the past because it almost to a fault assumes its audience is more than familiar. Destiny’s Child is mentioned as an inspiration as are teenage romcoms but there was still plenty of room for a deeper exploration of the 2000’s era that so firmly shaped these women. However the doc succeeds greatly when following the four women as adults. The distance between them is felt early on and often uncomfortable allowing such joy as those walls come down and wounds are patched up. It helps too that Ayden, Jessica, Janet and Mary want to be doing this. Their excitement is always matched with bewilderment. It is a surprise and yet when listening to the early produced versions of X-Cetra’s songs you always hear the honesty and raw feeling that these girls were trying to express. Some of their songs dealt with darker themes that even they were not experienced to making it all the more real to see them as adults revisiting and now being exposed to the heartaches they once sang about. But even through that pain X-Cetra is a joyous pop group that redefined what a “comeback” is as well to be prepared for anything because one day those cute little videos you made growing up can give you a second chance you never saw coming. And before you know it when life seems ordinary Rolling Stones Magazine comes a knocking. But hey all that can be summed up as the power of friendship and girlhood. 

B+

SUMMER 2000: THE X-CETRA STORY PREMIERED AT THE 2026 SOUTH BY SOUTH WEST FILM FESTIVAL.