Girlhood

Year: 2003

Grade: B+

Country: USA

Director: Garbus

Review

a very fine documentary with material that’s pretty tough to beat. the story follows two girls in a juvenile institution. as the film progresses they move out of the institution and back into home with their mothers. it’s moving stuff all around. the film does a decent job of covering a good amount of time (approx. two years) while staying in touch with the changes the girls are going through. having seen a lot of this stuff first hand (while working at the shelter) i think i was able to relate to a lot of it on an additional level, but the film will probably speak to anyone who was once a teenager. i wasn’t able to bond with the characters in the same way that i was in a documentaries like “american movie” and “dark days” but the film shows the principals as fairly rounded people and that’s really all you can hope for from a documentary.