The Fits (2015) is a rather strange little indie drama from first time director Anna Rose Holmer that showcases remarkable skill and a gifted filmmaker to watch for in the coming years. The film is short, at only 72 minutes, but it feels just right and that there shouldn't be any more or any less to it. It's an economical story and sometimes those feel just right.
The story concerns an 11-year-old tomboy named Toni (Royalty Hightower), who helps her older brother at a boxing gym, but is fascinated with the dancing troupe right next door (many of whom admire the bulked up boxing boys). She slowly grows to fit in, but not before the girls on the troupe start having unexplainable violent fits that send them to the hospital.
The why explaining what the fits are isn't important; some speculate it's the school water supply, but tests ring back that the water is clean, and soon the girls grow from fearing the oncoming fits to accepting that they will happen at some point, and almost anticipating the out-of-body experience others are describing.
Shot almost entirely in one location, the movie has a terrific, indescribable sense of dread pervading it. At first it seems like an innocuous pre-teen movie, before the fits start taking over. Holmer, who has extensive credits in the camera department for bigger budge Hollywood films (such as Twilight), stages many shots to focus solely on our protagonist and not show us what is going on around her. We almost see her from everyone else's perspective, and barely register hers.
Ultimately this is an interesting movie that's worth checking out on Video on Demand. By no means a great achievement, it showcases a great talent for the creative team behind it, and makes me anticipate any new films from these creators.
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