While leaving plenty unsaid, The Fits rarely achieves the thrill of discovery.

Full Review | Feb 10, 2021

So while The Fits never presses towards any ultimate explanation for what triggers its eponymous condition amongst the girls, by privileging .. a demographic whose experiences are so commonly excluded ... The Fits is fundamentally ideological.

Full Review | Aug 25, 2018

If the fits are lemons, caused by metaphorical lead poisoning, then Toni's amazing closing sequence is lemonade.

Full Review | Sep 26, 2017

Holmer draws confident, luminous performances from the cast that rise to the occasion but never seem over-coached or phony.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 23, 2017

The Fits celebrates young black women, with an accent on their bodies.

Full Review | Feb 23, 2017

The storytelling is elegantly economical, characterised by a looseness and a spontaneity that's rooted in authenticity.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 23, 2017

The Fits is strange and amazing.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 23, 2017

Hard to pin down, but guaranteed to leave a mark.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 20, 2017

What the movie lacks in narrative it makes up for in mood and invention.

Full Review | Dec 29, 2016

Slow-paced and methodical, filled with arresting long shots.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 29, 2016

Using a lot of real-life West End of Cincinnati dancers and athletes in the cast lends the film an authentic feel without ever feeling amateurish, and the specificity of Toni's story resonates outward.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Sep 9, 2016

Anna Rose Holmer's strange but beautifully crafted film is worth seeking out.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 12, 2016

Holmer directs with supreme confidence, allowing the film to build to a boil at its own measured pace but not in a way that ever feels slow or drawn out.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 9, 2016

[Holmer] and cinematographer Paul Yee infuse the community center, in and around which the entire film takes place, with elements of magical realism to accentuate the protagonist's passage from childhood into adolescence.

Full Review | Jul 28, 2016

The movie is a nearly perfect thing, made with such assurance that every shot holds weight and widens your heart.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Jul 21, 2016

It's a curious world that Toni is entering, and Hightower's quiet watchfulness takes it all in.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 8, 2016

Like its lead Royalty Hightower, whose performance is just as spectacular as her name, The Fits is impossible to look away from. It's gorgeous, poetic, and opaque, and I've never seen any other movie like it.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Jun 24, 2016

"The Fits" and its electrifying young star give getting in formation renewed meaning, with inspiring, self-assured verve.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Jun 23, 2016

You honestly don't know what to expect, and when the film is done, you're not exactly sure what has happened.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jun 23, 2016

Though the narrative is threadbare, the concept of the story - girls at the rec center are inexplicably suffering from strange seizures - keeps us engaged.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 15, 2016