Girlhood Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Girlhood Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf May 21, 2015

The kids aren’t alright in the French drama “Girlhood.” Taking a look at the growing pains of a young woman in the midst of waywardness, director Celine Sciamma (“Tomboy”) displays a command of mood and distress that creates understanding where cliché typically resides. “Girlhood” is a human story, filled with violence and concern, and while it ultimately bites off a little more than it can chew, the raw ingredients of the work remain fascinating.

Marieme (Karidja Toure) is a French teenager who can’t seem to get her life in order. She’s being kicked out of school, facing domestic abuse issues with her brother, caring for her two younger sisters, and she’s fallen in love with a forbidden boy. Turning to a gang for support, Marieme finds a place to belong, commencing a long, strange journey into crime and brutality, with her identity lost in the rapid descent. What works so well in “Girlhood” is the comprehension of Marieme’s trials, studying the teen’s whirring mind as she enters a troubling situation, finding comfort in bad influences and threat at home. This extended confusion keeps “Girlhood” compelling, watching Marieme conform to every dubious opportunity while still pining for a simple life of love from those she’s meant to trust.

Girlhood Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (2.40:1 aspect ratio) presentation does a fantastic job bringing out the nuances in the movie's cinematography. Fine detail is fresh and deep, with ideal facial particulars and location textures, while fibrous costuming is also on display. Colors are very modern in this HD-shot feature, favoring bluish and amber hues, but fabrics carry special life, along with urban signage. Skintones are spot-on. Delineation is communicative, making sense out of scenes with limited lighting and distances, and contrast is sharp.

Girlhood Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Music provides expanse for the 5.1 DTS-HD MA sound mix, finding soundtrack cuts and scoring filling surrounds with propulsive synth-based songs. Fullness is felt in the low-end, and while directionals are subdued, a circular sense of position and mood is crisply defined. Dialogue exchanges are clean and organized, with rich emotional extremes and evocative group activity. Atmospherics are professionally managed, delivering a sense of city and apartment life.

Girlhood Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interview (2:56, HD) with actress Karidja Toure is a brief discussion of casting and camaraderie with director Celine Sciamma and her co-stars.

• A Theatrical Trailer (1:37, HD) is included.

Girlhood Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"Girlhood" is overlong, in need of an editorial fine-tuning that removes needless silences and trims the fat out of an iffy third act. Still, madness is potent in the feature, with Sciamma zeroing in on a specific sense of belonging that's universal to the adolescent experience, only here it takes a bleak turn with a specific racial and cultural viewpoint. A potent picture that could be a valuable resource to younger viewers in need, "Girlhood" delivers intimacy and emotionality with conviction.