The Fits (2016)

Too much of everything

Great Film overall

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

The acting was really bad.The fits that the girls had seemed really fake to me. For example when each girl was able to tell the grown ups what happen or when the young girl was telling the women what happen and then all of the sudden she had a fit. It was like the girls planed it out to get people to notice them or something. the plot was weak and music was not good.I really how the film was about black kids and hard things can get for them. I really like how thermal kid stood up for what she thought was right even when it meant she hurts her friends feeling. Also I like how her brother stood by her side even so he knew tiger mom would be upset when she finds out about the her kid was doing.I think people skip this film. I give it 2 out 10

Don't think too hard. This film is about wanting to fit in as an adolescent. And not fully understanding what peers older than you are going through, but wanting to be accepted regardless.Consider the first fit, the first "episode," as real. The leader, Legs, was PREGNANT, from Donte. Maybe she overworked herself dancing? Complications? Dehydration? But she was definitely, absolutely, pregnant... and she then had a seizure, an episode, whatever it was. Chances are it was the only sincere "fit" in the film.Imagine each subsequent fit to be each girl's attempt to follow suit. To be like their "leader." The girl they look up to each day while dancing, the girl they follow, for their own reasons. Toni's dialogue is all you need to know: "Maia wanted it to happen to her." So it did. And, eventually... Toni wanted it too.It's a surreal film. Obviously Toni isn't going to get pregnant, but her mind doesn't fully understand pregnancy yet, so she throws her own unique fit. Just as each of her friends threw their own. She creates a fantasy of being accepted. She floats, she flails, she falls, and she's caught by her friends. She fits.

I always find it somewhat of a shame when a movie that has everything going for it falls flat on its face. That's what happens in "The Fits". The description here on IMDb properly describes the movie. Unfortunately the movie itself does little more to take it beyond that description.The directing and acting is excellent, especially by lead actor Royalty Hightower. She is not alone, backed up by some excellent casting for the parts of her best friend and her brother.Were this a simple slice-of-life movie it would be acceptable and interesting. But it doesn't qualify as such. It takes the viewer down a specific road of semi-realistic insight into the life of a black adolescent girl, then throws that all out the window with what can only be described as a plunge into script-writing and directing self-indulgence. I always wonder how so many people can be involved in creating a work like this without someone stepping up and saying, "Hey, has anyone noticed the plot line stinks?" At the end, the viewer is left asking, "What was that supposed to be all about?". The result is a mixture of enjoyment, shock and disappointment as we realize yet another movie with potential has been flippantly cast to the canines.Yes, pun intended. You'll need some humor after watching this.

NYU cinematography undergraduate Anna Rose Holmer began as a camera assistant on Catherine Hardwicke's TWiLiGHT (2008) and as a grip on Lena Dunham's TiNY FURNITURE (2010). In 2014, she began scouting Cincinnati, finding not only the absolute perfect school rec hall for her directorial debut but an entire cast of young girls, all of whom attended the school.Holmer establishes a pure, uncompromising cinematic style by quietly following Toni, an 11-year old girl boxer who roams spooky hallways, longingly gazing at "legit" dance team members. The precocious newcomer Royalty Hightower has a perfect blend of introverted determination and wandering magic, while an unexplainable contagion seems to be inhabiting random girls within the school.What is so unique about The Fits is its power to hypnotize any viewer who is prepared for a full-blown transcendental journey. In fact, Anna Rose Holmer's relentless otherworldliness is exactly what puts her feature debut The Fits at the top of my list. Not only does Holmer's film combine the rigid silence and physical exertion of Robert Bresson's A MAN ESCAPED (1956) and Claire Denis' BEAU TRAVAiL (GOOD WORK, 1999), the eerie off-center camera-work by Paul Yee evokes the foggy locker rooms in Brian DePalma's CARRiE (1976) and the abandoned buildings in Paul Lynch's PROM NiGHT(1980).Most importantly, Holmer's film gives her female protagonists actual character arcs. As the mysterious virus continues to attack the class, each sequence and every shot should become more important to the audience. This cinematic process forces viewers to emotionally dig-deep within themselves to truly connect with what these pre-teen inhabitants are speechlessly experiencing. For those who stay in-synch with this 72-minute, mini-masterpiece and allow themselves to feel one of the most unique and sensational finales in recent years, genuine catharsis might actually be attained.Review taken from my 2016 Sundance Film Festival wrap up at www.48hills.org