‘The Fits’ Captures Anxieties of Approaching Womanhood

Sandra Miska

The coming-of-age drama “The Fits,” which is the impressive feature debut of filmmaker Anna Rose Holmer, follows Toni (Royalty Hightower), an African American girl living in Cincinnati. Set almost entirely in a local community center, the film follows the 11-year-old as she moves between two worlds. She’s first introduced while training in the boxing ring alongside her older brother Jermaine (De’Sean Minor) and his friend Donté (Antonio A.B. Grant Jr.). Maine also works a custodial job at the community center, and Toni is often seen helping her big brother (who is also her ride home) with his duties.

Although a tomboy, Toni soon finds herself being drawn to the girls’ dance team, led by cool older girl Legs (Makayla Burman). Her boxing training falls by the wayside as she auditions for a coveted spot on the team. As Legs and co-captain Karisma (Inayah Rodgers) make clear, those signing up shouldn’t treat dance as some fun little hobby as the girls are expected to attend three-hour rehearsals multiple times a week. Toni isn’t one to show eagerness or enthusiasm, but she gives the group audition her all and seems to take comfort in the fact that even though she’s far from being the best dancer in the bunch, she isn’t the worst.

Things get complicated after several girls, beginning with Legs, start having severe spasms that land them in the hospital. Toni and a number of the other girls including her friends Breezy (Alexis Neblett) and Maya wait around to be stricken next. Meanwhile, the largely unseen adults around them attempt to get to the bottom of this mysterious ailment by testing the water and having meetings.

The film has a fly-on-the-wall feel as the viewer watches as Toni moves back and forth between worlds, the male one and the female one. A quiet observer, she listens as the older girls discuss their relationships with the boys, although Toni is one of the few we actually see interacting with the opposite sex. With puberty approaching, Toni tries to feminize her appearance starting small with a fake butterfly tattoo and working up to piercing her own ears, neither of which lasts long.

At first glance, the plot of “The Fits” may sound like something out of a horror film but the strange occurrences can’t be classified as supernatural since Holmer wasn’t inspired so much by “The Exorcist” as she was by a historical events known as the Dancing Plague of 1518, a “plague” that struck over 400 people in France and caused the afflicted to dance for days on end often leading to death. Further research revealed that similar phenomena on a smaller scale have happened recently in the United States mostly in tight-knit groups of girls. Holmer certainly succeeds in creating a sense of isolation; even though the girls live in a large city much of their time is spent with one another in the community center.

This is a slow-moving, traditional art film so those expecting some sort of payoff or explanation will be disappointed. Instead, “The Fits” is a moving portrait of a girl on the verge of young adulthood.

“The Fits” opens June 3 in New York and June 10 in Los Angeles.