Category: 2010s

Sometimes I poke at myself for continually adding every little film that intrigues me to my grand To Watch list, but other times I’m grateful because I end up watching lesser known gems such as this one. Hong Chau is a single mother who has temporarily moved into her recently deceased sister’s home to prepare it for sale. Brian Dennehy is the next-door neighbor who bonds with her young son. This is such a complex portrayal of different ages and life experiences, particularly when dealing with death, that it feels as if it fully encompasses every stage of life itself. The acting is excellent and it really is a beautiful little film.

A young girl who spends her afternoons boxing with her brother decides she’d rather devote her energies to the dance team that practices in the same facility. Soon after her joining, girls in the troupe start experiencing seizures. These fits parallel the experiences of puberty itself. The older girls are the ones first inflicted. Each girls’ experience is different with some gleefully awaiting for their turn while others more reticent. Aside from these attacks, there is a deeper exploration of the changes that the main character experiences, expertly played by Royalty Hightower. She craves the female camaraderie, the control of her body, the group identity, and femininity. As she grows more comfortable in her new role, her confidence grows as does her smile.

With the unique story of a teenage girl whose recently-divorced mother converts to Islam, I really wanted to like this film more than I did. The performances are strong, particularly that of Zoe Renee in the lead, but the narrative lets them down. The mother’s conversion feels like the desperate move of someone whose identity is still reeling from the end of their relationship. She is then almost abusive in forcing her new religion onto her daughter, who prior to conversion is a bubbly bisexual whose primary interests are dancing and eating pepperoni. The daughter becomes Muslim, except she seems to have forgotten to investigate at all what was now expected of her in her new religion. The ending tries to resolve all of this in a positive way, but by then I had no faith in the decision making abilities of these characters.