Poster courtesy of Lionsgate

The Fits is the debut feature of Anna Rose Holmer, a cinematographer (The Adults in the Room) turned producer (Ballet 422, Salero) turned co-writer-director. The cast is entirely African-American, but Holmer, a graduate of New York University and resident of Upstate New York (the affordable bit) is not. The film isn’t ‘authentic’. That is, it is not a documentary reproduction of lived experience. Rather it is inspired by Holmer and her co-writers Saela Davis and Lisa Kjerulff’s coming of age, moving from a close relationship (growing up) with an older brother to integration within a group of females. It is also inspired by a dance team. (Lisa Kjerulff describes Holmer’s style as ‘on location, immersive filmmaking.’)

At a brisk, minimally-spoken 72 minutes, we see life through the narrow gaze of pre-pubescent Toni (Liberty Hightower, superb) who is introduced through a strained, counting voice (‘one, two’). Toni is doing sit-ups. The camera stays on her as she counts to twenty and she keeps on counting while there is a cut to black. This is a predominantly physical film – we watch people (girls, mostly) doing stuff (dancing mostly, or watching). Holmer adopts a particular style, to foreground one piece of action whilst something else is going on in the background. So when Toni is doing her sit-ups, we see the legs of two sparring boxers in the ring. When we next see Toni, she is throwing punches into the pads of her brother, Jermaine (De’Sean Minor). Their relationship is sketched pretty quickly. They are tight. Whilst Jermaine trains, Toni (inspired by him) develops her own physique. It’s a lonely regime. By contrast, the girls in the next door basketball court, who occasionally peep through the glass at the boxers in training, gossiping a while, are having a hell of a time. The setting is Lincoln High School in Cincinnati. The girls belong to a dance troupe called the Lionesses. We see Toni rolling a large (ten litre) water bottle towards their court whilst three girls are talking. Then they run off. Toni follows them to see what is going on. There is a rehearsal. In slow motion, one girl chest-bumps another. The young women are powerful, dynamic and spectacular. Toni is rapt, until her brother, now carrying the bottle on his shoulder calls after her.

Gulf between worlds

One sequence early on represents the gulf between two worlds. Toni is carrying a heavy bag towards the school building when she is overtaken by a wave, nay a torrent of cheering girls, who pass her, drunk on their own jubilation. The shot follows Toni as she keeps walking. Eventually, we see one of the girls carrying a trophy. A trophy! This dancing – you can win stuff. These are some proud Lionesses. The shot is held for such a long time, the number of celebrating dancers seems never-ending, a river of joy bursting the banks of expectation.

Toni joins the troupe with another young girl, Beezy (Alexis Neblett) who, while they are sitting on a bench, offers her some candy. Toni, who we sense is a serious athlete – we see her earlier running up some stairs on a footbridge, slapping the hand of her brother as they pass – refuses. It is time for the crabs (newcomers) to have a go. You expect Toni to be a natural – she’s a boxer, she has rhythm – but she is noticeably out of synch. This dancing stuff is work.

In her brother’s gym, we see a margarita pizza greedily torn apart by hungry hands, until there is nothing left. Then Toni comes along. There is nothing for her. The boys rush to the window. Something’s going down. It is one of the dancers, Legs (Makyla Burnam) having a seizure, the fit of the title. Toni sits down, cradling a crust.

When a second dancer, Karisma (Inayah Rodgers) has a fit, the school gets worried. We don’t see many adults, except as spectators, and we certainly don’t hear many adult voices, except when the seizures are discussed. Water is suspected. Early in her troupe career, Toni is asked to fill a six pack of water bottles. She uses a school water fountain. It will be assessed.

As more girls suffer, they compare their experiences. For one girl, it isn’t painful at all. For another, it is distressing. We see one girl having a fit staring upwards, as if beholding a sudden revelation that produces muscle spasm, the proverbial ‘weak at the knees’. The fits resemble an engine giving out, the disintegration of motor function. They are scary.

Is this a horror film?

You end up thinking you are watching a horror film, one where any girl can become afflicted at any time. At the same time, Toni is flirting with femininity. Beezy applies a stick-on ‘tattoo’ to her arm. Toni attempts to peel it off. In the restroom, Toni pierces one ear with a needle and applies a sparkly ear stud. As Beezy remarks, she does not even scream. Another girl has to do the other ear, though. Then Toni has her nails painted, but then scratches the glitter off in the middle of the gym. (‘I just vacuumed’, says her brother.) Toni initially refuses to remove her ear stud (‘Mom will be mad,’ says Jermaine), but does so later on. She is nervously flirting with womanhood before the inevitable puberty gives her no choice.

By the end, we are no longer just seeing events through Toni’s eyes; we are in her mind as her bare feet rise off the ground. The spaces that she occupied – a drained swimming pool, the bridge, the boxing ring are filled with dancers. It is a pop video aesthetic, but also emblematic of communion – Toni can swirl in time. Is this something to be embraced or feared? Holmer doesn’t judge.

Debate

We never determine the cause of the fits and they do excite debate. One imdb contributor described the first fit as caused by pregnancy, with the other girls following suit (‘it’s about teen pregnancy’).To me, it looked closer to a Pavlovian response – a gut reaction – to conformity. Not everyone wants to be awesome when they are part of a team (to quote The Lego Movie). It may be an expression of vulnerability, a fatal flaw in the power of femininity (it doesn’t last). You can make your own mind up.

The Fits is undoubtedly original in conception and execution. It was supported by Venice’s Biennale College as well as the Sundance Institute. Holmer blends documentary and fantasy; the emphasis is on spectacle rather than dialogue. She has a defined point of view; her interest is in films about women that don’t rely on the acceptance of men. She is an awesome talent to behold.

Reviewed at ICA Cinema London, Friday 24 February 2017, 14:25 screening

Trailer court courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories