The Fits Moves To Its Own Kind Of Engaging Rhythm

Fitting in can be such a challenge when you're a youngster. I sill struggle to adapt to social circles as a current College student and what not, but you're out in the real world now where there are other vital things that require your attention so your social circle isn't the sole facet of your world. By contrast, all throughout one's life from Kindergarten to your Senior Year in High School though, it feels like nothing but your social life matters. Whose popular, who's not, who am I friends with today, am I still friends with this or that person, it all feels like the most important aspects of the entire universe. Needless to say, one's social statures in these formative years of our lives can be an extremely important thing.

Toni (Royalty Hightower) has a lot on her plate already, what with doing regular exercise routines at the gym her older brother works out at. Still, she can't help but be intrigued by an All-Girls dance group held at that very same gym, one that she watches from afar since her more shy demeanor has her reluctant to try out for the group. But one fateful day, she manages to give it a shot, and hey! What'd ya know! She's in the group! She's making some friends, improving her dance routines, all seems to be going swimmingly for Toni!

But then, shortly after she arrives into the group, something terrifying begins to happen to various members of the dance group. Seizures begin to occur to the various dancers, one by one. Obviously, this sends Toni and the various member of the dance group into fear, with these incidents providing a menacing backdrop that soon intertwines with the backbone of the entire premise; Toni coming of age amidst this group of dancers. It's here that Toni not only makes a friend, but also embarks on various actions that are used as storytelling shorthand for a woman growing up, such as coloring ones fingernails or piercing one's ears.

Toni is a subdued individual more adept at doing physically draining exercises than interacting with other people and newcomer Royalty Hightower most certainly shines playing that role so well. An initial scene depicting sneaking an envious peek at a dance group meeting sets the stage for the kind of restrained but extremely effective acting Hightower brings to this part, you can immediately grasp the kind of aching under-the-surface loneliness that informs this character. Similar kudos go to the various supporting actors for physically depicting their characters seizures in a way that doesn't feel exploitative of real-life seizure-related incidents while also coming off as a genuine representation of what a human being undergoes when such an event hits their bodies.

Something very much worth mentioning in regards to The Fits is just how insanely top-of-the-line it looks in terms of cinematography. In a recent conversation I engaged in, I couldn't help but ponder why $150+ million blockbusters like Independence Day: Resurgence looked so bland while a micro-budget Sundance drama like The Fits looks seriously phenomenal. There's a great sense of shot composition, the scenes where the various dancers have their seizures are shot in a way that accentuates the terrifying uncertainty of watching this event happen to someone, it's all so refined and well-made.

Director Anna Rose Holmer (who also wrote this movie) makes her narrative feature film debut here and it's certainly a filmmaking launch on her part that suggests quite a bit of promise. There's some elements of the script that could have been tweaked for sure (namely, a little more time devoted to seeing how everyone in the dance group is grappling with people around them succumbing to unexplainable fits), but this is a pretty engaging subdued exercise in exploring one young girl's attempt to fit in (hey, the title has a double meaning!) under some pretty unsettling circumstances.