Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Loui Blair It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

SquigglyCrunch The Fits follows a young girl as she joins a dance team. Upon her sign up some of the other students begin to experience sudden seizures, or fits. The shots were pretty great. The camera would often roll for more than a few minutes, making the actors memorize all their actions and lines for each scene instead of being loaded with cuts that don't require as much acting and memorization ability. The thing is, though, that the lines that had to be memorized were few and far between. There's very little dialogue in this movie, so as far as that area is concerned none of the actors were particularly challenged I'm sure. As for action, yes, there was a lot of that. There were often lengthy shots of the main character going through the same dance routine over and over. Of course, there was room for error as she was just practicing, and it was always the same dance, but it was pretty impressive regardless. However, the movie falls short on several levels. First of all, the actors aren't actually all that good, despite their effort. The lead actress, Royalty Hightower, is pretty good for a child actor, but everyone else falls pretty flat. They just aren't nearly as convincing, and thus when we as the audience are supposed to care about them we simply can't. I didn't, anyway. The story itself was actually really intriguing to me, but it was so boring in actuality. As it progresses it slows more and more until it's just a straight-up boring movie. The way the story is presented, however, is unoriginal, dumb, and often formulaic. It's more focused on the main characters acting like little girls and having fun than it is about the fits themselves, despite the title of the film being just that. The fits are actually really not that important. Without knowing the title or plot synopsis of this movie I would not have guessed that the fits were actually supposed to be important. It's a coming-of- age movie so I understand that good titles may be hard to come by, but the fits could have had more significance regardless. There's this kind of stupid scene at the end where floating happens when it shouldn't be, and it looks hilariously fake. I actually laughed out loud at this scene. Whether or not it was actually fake, I don't know, but it looked awful and didn't make any sense. There are a handful of parts scattered through this movie where characters act so in-sync with each other that it ends up taking the audience out of the movie more than it does anything for it. It makes it feel fake. Mind you there were only a few of these scenes, but they were still distracting enough to make them hard to ignore. Overall The Fits is kind of stupid, and a largely forgettable movie. I understand what the movie was trying to do, and I think it was kind of cool what it did with symbolism and all that, but it just lacked in it's ability to present itself well enough as both a functioning and original story and a symbolic one. As for the stupid floating scene, I'm sure it means something, but the movie gave me no reason to care enough to put any more thought into it than I already had. In the end I wouldn't recommend this movie.

Granger 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.

Paul Allaer "The Fits" (2015 release; 72 min.) brings the story of Toni, an 11 yr. old girl. As the movie opens, we see Toni doing push-ups and working out in the boxing gym alongside her older brother. But afterwards she watches a nearby dancer troupe doing their workouts, and it's clear Toni wants to join them. Toni's brother encourages her and it's not long before Toni enters a whole new world. To tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.Couple of comments: this is the debut full-length feature from writer-director Anna Rose Holmer. Here she picks a familiar topic (coming of age, fitting in and social acceptance), but Holmer brings it in a unique way, focusing on an 11 yr. old girl whom we watch as she tries to find her way. There is no dialogue to speak of during the first 20-25 minutes of the movie. Instead, we decipher all we need to know from Toni's face and body expressions. Newcomer Royalty Hightower as Toni as an absolute sensation. Did I mention that the entire cast of this film is African-American? (Interestingly, Holmer herself is not.) The movie is set entirely in Cincinnati's gritty West End neighborhood (much of the film being set at the Lincoln Community Center). As a complete aside, I also noticed in the opening credits that the movie is presented by the Biennale di Venezia, yes, the famous arts fest. Bottom line: "The Fits" is an abstract, yet very real comment on a young girl's coming of age, dealing with social acceptance and related challenges.The movie opened recently at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. The Tuesday evening screening where I saw this at was PACKED, to my great (but pleasant) surprise. The fact the movie was shot here surely had a lot to due with it. Equally surprising was to see how many young kids were in the audience. If you are on the fence, perhaps because the movie's short running time, please do yourself a favor and check this out, be it in the theater, on VOD or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray. You will thank me later.

freekyfridays 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