Girls in America

I saw this film on its last night at the Film Forum in NYC. It was a special night as one of the producers, one of the actors, and a good crowd showed up. The producer spoke before the show and asked us to spread the word if we liked the film, and to keep it to ourselves if we didn't...I'm spreading the word.

Shot in grittier parts of Jersey City, which lies just across the Hudson River from Manhattan, with a cast of mostly unknown actors, this film does a fantastic job of peeling back the lid on urban ghetto life. It's not a documentary but has a cinéma-vérité quality that is truly remarkable for a fictional film. Being young and working in film is cool, but making a first film that is as incredibly powerful as this one is an extraordinary achievement for the cast, crew and writer/director, Lori Silverbush.

I enjoyed seeing a film set in the much maligned Jersey City. I lived there for several years and the locations used were well chosen (kudos to the location scouts). The montage of JC images (places and people) in the beginning of the film did an excellent job of establishing the setting for the viewer, and was well-queued with the throaty, resonating rendition of "Motherless Child" (kudos to the editors for that one). I was happy to see the beautiful Judy Marte, from Raising Victor Vargas, playing a super-tough drug dealing lesbian(?). If not always strong, the entire cast had an honesty to their performances that made it seem as if they were really playing themselves caught on film. The seduction scene with Tyrell (Don Parma), for instance, gives mothers in the audience a picture of the kind hustler boyfriend you don't want your daughter to have.

I was deeply moved, and I hope this film gets a lot of mileage. If I were still a public school teacher in the hard knock Bronx, I wouldn't hesitate to send those permission slips home (because of profanity and drug use) in order to show this to my students. I highly recommend anyone who works in urban education to see this film...and share it with their students.

I work in a Juvenile Detention Center and I am constantly on the lookout for films to show the youth during our "groups." While in the video store I happened to come across this film and decided to show it. The kids really responded positively to the film. So, I had them write a review on why they did or didn't like it. Almost every one wrote that they really enjoyed the film. Most could relate to it. They said that more people should watch this film so they could see how kids who frequent detentions live.

To quote: "I liked the film because it was based on the true life world that we(detention youth) live in." -16year old male "I very much enjoyed the film because some of us in here really live the way those girls live. Some of us deal drugs, and buy drugs. Then, we come back to detention again and again. It's all true. I want to change, but it's hard to change." -13year old male "I identify with all of the characters. I've been a runaway, I've sold drugs, and I've been addicted to them. This was a great film. It shows people how your choices really affect yourself and others." -18year old male.

The plot tells the partly interwoven story of three girls living in New Jersey. What makes this movie interesting -at least to me - is that it steps away from this male-ghetto-hero bullshit and shows how life as a young girl in a town like New Jersey can be. And it surely shows that prisons are a quiet helpless effect to just makes problems invisible instead of solving them. When i saw this movie at the Berlin Film Festival it really impressed me, and even more so when i learned that the makers really did it with the people in New Jersey and especially the people in the Girls Youth Prison. Let's hope there gonna be more movies of those guys!

On The Outs is a gripping movie that every teen should see this season. The film is about three young girls living in Jersey City whose lives intersect at a juvenile detention center.

Oz is a 17 year old drug dealer. She is very butch and really carries herself as one of the guys. She fights like the guys, dresses like the guys, talks like the guys and sells drugs on the street corner with the guys. The only person she seems to have a real emotional connection with is her mentally disabled brother. In a case of irony, Oz despises drug use and people who use drugs--despite the fact that she is a drug dealer. On top of all of that, Oz has a mother who is addicted to drugs.

Suzette is 15 years old and meets a neighborhood boy named Tyrell. He shows just a little bit of interest in Suzette and she gets hot and heavy with him real fast. The two become sexually active and Suzette becomes pregnant, much to the dismay of her hardworking single mother. After becoming pregnant Suzette runs away from home to be with Tyrell, a street drug dealer who doesn't seem to have a place to live himself. On the streets Suzette finds trouble far beyond her unplanned pregnancy.

Marisol is a young mother and a crack cocaine addict. She spends much of her time on the streets. When she is arrested following an accident she is forced to face her demons face on. While in juvenile detention her daughter is put into foster care. Marisol thinks a quick fix will help her regain custody of her daughter. She is faced with the prospect of having to stay clean and become responsible to get her daughter back.

On The Outs is the best film created for young teen girls in years. Young women today are faced with so many obstacles and choices lead to consequences. This is an excellent film and the voices of the young girls seem authentic.

There are few movies that are so honest about what's going on in the modern American poor cities. The topic of three intertwined stories from three women could be heavy-handed and awkward in the wrong hands. It isn't here. Some people might think what happens in this movie isn't real but it's quite real and happening right now in most cities to many people. The fact that there are no recognizable faces in this movie just adds to the realism. But that isn't to say that the acting was bad. It wasn't. A lot of movies are just afraid to tackle the topic of drug abuse accurately and I think this one did a fine job of showing what goes on. This isn't an uplifting movie but life isn't always uplifting. It's also very easy to blame the victim in these situations and I think this movie is sympathetic to its characters but not overly sympathetic. Well done movie. One of the best films of 2004!