sojournerinmind I was deeply moved by one scene in this film - the "Diamonds" dance scene between the bande de filles - that I felt really made this movie, an acceptable offering, something special. I was nearly in tears. Here you have these girls from an impoverished area, left to their own devices and self-defense in a rough and tumble world that has zero positive expectations for them. All they have is each other to make them feel of value. Stealing tight dresses from the mall and dancing together to a song that would have them feel beautiful in a society that has them feeling anything but. Really poignant what the director created there. I felt more could have been done with the film. The second half failed the first, in my opinion. But the characters were multi-faceted, the acting and dialogue were realistic. I hope to see more films like this.

jjustinjaeger I like films like this one. They have purpose, relevance, and seek to connect us with lives we have not lived but can empathize with. It's easy to see these characters as punks until it becomes difficult to. Writer/director Céline Sciamma makes no effort to judge the actions of the characters and thereby gracefully detaches her ego from the story. This makes for a film watching experience that is more absorption than hard analysis and intellectualization of this protagonist's life. This does not make it any less a provocative work, but allows for understanding we would not get otherwise, as with a camera less subtle.Yes, it's a coming of age film, but without the climactic moment when the character comes- of-age (whatever that means). Instead the film is about comings and goings of identity and security, and why a person would seek these things.It's socially relevant in the way it poses the character's environment and socioeconomic influences as factors to her motivations. We get a true sense of her circumstance. It explores low income, predominantly black areas of society untouched by most films. The attention it gives to people of this circumstance and the understanding it promotes is certainly a means to social change if only these sorts of films could reach more people. Much attention is payed to bodies, skin, and faces, which the lighting often compliments. This is the source of the film's power rather than extraneous camera movement. The fascination here is intriguing as it's not out of lust but… well maybe it's just about the fascination. We are sensitive towards our physiques and appearances, and the camera shares this, only the bodies it shows are not just the characters' bodies but the actors' bodies. Bodies are a source for both power and insecurity to the characters. I don't feel the need to analyze this, only to comment, so I won't say any more.While Girlhood won't be in everyone's movie watching range, it's definitely worth seeking out if you're inclined.

Tyshay Baker I really enjoyed this movie. 9/10 I will cut off a foreign film but I was intrigued so I turned on the subtitles and stuck it out until the end. However, I think I could have followed the film without the subtitles at a certain point. When I read, gang in the description, I thought it'd be a very rough film but the friendship that was formed between the girls were beautiful. The decisions that were made by the characters were understandable due to their lives and circumstances. Though I may not agree with decisions I can understand them which isn't always the case sometimes. It didn't lose me until the last act. I don't feel like it was as tight, put together and well written as it was in the beginning. I understood, she'd rather live the life uncertainty than go back home but I just didn't have closure, I felt like all of the characters' fates were just as uncertain as I was, especially the main characters. I just felt left hanging and I wanted to know what happened to her.

Red_Identity It's easy to dismiss so much of this film as a gimmick on first-look. I mean, Girlhood... it just seems like such an obvious set-up for one of the most acclaimed films of this century. The good thing is that this film really isn't trying to follow the same structure as Boyhood. Whereas that film really embraced itself in realism, one can say that this one is trying to play with more conventional structures in terms of a 'coming of age" drama. One can say that the main character goes through more changes here, in ways that are more measurable. Perhaps in that way this film may not be as realistic, but perhaps in other ways it's more able to find something captivating in its quiet moments.