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Girlhood
  • Release Date: Oct 29, 2003
Girlhood Image
Metascore
69 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 16 Critics What's this?

User Score
9.0 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 9 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
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  • Summary: A story of mothers and daughters, crime and its consequences, and ceaseless striving in the face of inconceivable adversity, girlhood is a testament to the faith and struggles of two young girls just trying to grow up. (Moxie Firecracker Films)

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 16
  3. Negative: 0 out of 16
  1. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    100
    Garbus spent three years patiently mining for beauty in the ugliest of environments. The remarkable result stands as a challenge to anyone who would have seen only the worst and walked right by.
  2. Premiere
    Reviewed by: Aaron Hillis
    100
    Documentarian Liz Garbus masterfully turns her minimalist camera's eye on young girls institutionalized at the Waxter Juvenile Facility near Baltimore.
  3. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Frank Scheck
    60
    An eye-opening sociological examination that is alternately moving and tedious.

See all 16 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 7
  3. Negative: 1 out of 7
  1. CrystalY.
    10
    This movie was so touching and made you appreciate your mother and your own life.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  2. Ericka
    9
    Excellent visioning of the life of girls in the prison system. Honest look into the roadblocks that they face while in lock up and after being released. A truly touching and inviting story.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. KS
    9
    Perhaps if the girls were caucasian, this documentary would have gotten better reviews. I like how straightforward it is. It just tells the girls' story. There is no upside to the endings. One girl's mom died and the other's walked away to get another fix. The girl who murdered someone was gang raped at 11 and is cut off emotionally from her pain. The other girl feels her pain from neglect and acts it out. Foster care and 8 homes in 8 months isn't necessarily an "up" ending. Their futur's are as much a mystery to us as it is to them. The LA Times review is wacked.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes

See all 7 User Reviews