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Movies / On DVD / Girlhood
Girlhood

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Girlhood (2003)

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94 %
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Reviews Counted: 35

Fresh: 33

Rotten:2

Average Rating: 7.6/10

Consensus: An intimate, compassionate look at two teenagers in juvenile hall.

Runtime: 82 mins

Genre: Education/General Interest

Synopsis: Girlhood, the new documentary film from Academy Award-nominated director Liz Garbus, tells two coming-of-age stories from the real America: Shanae, ten years old when she was gang-raped by five boys, responded by drinking and... Girlhood, the new documentary film from Academy Award-nominated director Liz Garbus, tells two coming-of-age stories from the real America: Shanae, ten years old when she was gang-raped by five boys, responded by drinking and drugging, and then graduated to murder, with the stabbing death of a friend, at age 11. Megan, whose mother abandoned her to turn tricks to support her ravaging heroin addiction, ran away from ten different foster homes before being arrested for attacking another foster child with a box cutter. Both girls ended up in the Waxter Juvenile Facility, home to Maryland's most violent juvenile offenders. It is here that their journeys really begin. With unprecedented access to the system and to the complex interior lives of the protagonists, girlhood follows Shanae and Megan over the next three years of their lives, as they struggle to come to terms with their crimes, their pasts, and their futures. One of them will graduate from high school at #4 in her class, having made her way through the minefield of her childhood and even greater crises to come; another will find herself trapped by the demons of her upbringing, on the streets of East Baltimore, still searching for salvation. But both will struggle to come of age in an America in which childhood, as we would all like to imagine it, is in shorter and shorter supply. A story of mothers and daughters, crime and its consequences, and ceaseless striving in the face of inconceivable adversity, girlhood is a testament to the faith and struggles of two young girls just trying to grow up. -- © Moxie Firecracker Films [More]

Director: Liz Garbus

Director: Liz Garbus
Producer: Liz Garbus, Rory Kennedy
Composer: Theodore Shapiro
Studio: Wellspring

Reviews for Girlhood

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
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Ratings Image

Like many similar documentaries, this 2002 feature doesn't present easy answers, but by letting the two girls register as individuals, it forces the viewer to care about them when few around them can be bothered.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
07/18/07
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader
Ratings Image

Chilling, depressing, yet guardedly optimistic.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Merle Bertrand
Film Threat
Ratings Image

Girlhood thoughtfully questions not just the system itself, but our unfair assumptions about the young people caught within it.

Full Review Source: All Movie Guide | comment Comment
09/08/05
Josh Ralske
All Movie Guide
Ratings Image

To the film’s great credit, [director] Garbus evens out her often heavy-hand and we’re given the emotional core of two young female criminals in ways often eluded in the movies.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
05/13/05
Jon Lap
Apollo Guide
Ratings Image

..disturbing, yet life affirming portrait ... girlhood is an early stage of life, but the consequences of mistakes upon womanhood and, more significantly, motherhood will ...

Full Review Source: Bangitout.com | comment Comment
07/29/04
Jordan Hiller
Bangitout.com
Ratings Image

The trajectories of Shanae's and Megan's lives speak volumes for themselves.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
02/06/04
Wesley Morris
Boston Globe
Ratings Image

Deeply affecting in the moment, but I’m not sure that Garbus draws much in the way of larger conclusions.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Today | comment Comment
01/09/04
Brent Simon
Entertainment Today
Ratings Image

Fascinating and, at times, surprisingly moving.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
12/19/03
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City
Ratings Image

Girlhood begins as a document of criminal justice, and ends as a testament to the power of motherhood.

Full Review Source: Salt Lake Tribune | comment Comment
12/19/03
Sean Means
Salt Lake Tribune
Ratings Image

Thanks to unprecedented access, acclaimed documentarian Liz Garbus is able to continue her upfront examination of the American criminal justice system.

Full Review Source: FilmStew.com | comment Comment
11/24/03
Annlee Ellingson
FilmStew.com
Ratings Image

An eye-opening sociological examination that is alternately moving and tedious. Ultimately, however, one can't help but be caught up in the travails of its two memorable subjects.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
11/14/03
Frank Scheck
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

It isn't just difficult to do justice to Shanae and Megan in an average of 44 minutes apiece; as it turns out, it's impossible.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
11/13/03
Manohla Dargis
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image

It may be the least expected happy ending in years.

Full Review Source: Premiere Magazine | comment Comment
11/04/03
Aaron Hillis
Premiere Magazine
Ratings Image

Liz Garbus and company have skillfully captured raw emotions, something 'reality TV' almost never does, and Girlhood offers two valuable case studies to its audience, however difficult it may be to watch them.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
11/03/03
Eric Monder
Film Journal International
Ratings Image

While it is one part a coming-of-age story and one part a story of girls and mothers, Girlhood is just as much about the attainment of wisdom.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
10/31/03
Michael O'Sullivan
Washington Post
Ratings Image

In the end, the girls' stories are inspiring and heartbreaking, making this sensitively directed film one of the most rewarding of the year.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
10/31/03
E! Online
Ratings Image

Seems like a summer camp, with inmates enjoying soda and snacks in virtually every scene.

Full Review Source: Planet Sick-Boy | comment Comment
10/31/03
Jon Popick
Planet Sick-Boy
Ratings Image

As grim as its subject may at first seem, Girlhood is at heart an emotionally rich look at mothers and their daughters, and provides a refreshing look at how 'the system,' flawed as it may be, can work.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
10/30/03
Ken Fox
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Ratings Image

Detailed, compassionate, humane.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
10/30/03
David Sterritt
Christian Science Monitor
Ratings Image

It shows a fascination with the criminal justice system, and amazing access to the people caught in its wheels.

Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
10/30/03
Stephen Whitty
Newark Star-Ledger
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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