Oakland as a tantalizing case study. In a city that struggles with rising crime and health care woes, its public school systems aren't exactly equipped to prepare youth for the travails of young adulthood.... (Full plot summary below)
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Oakland as a tantalizing case study. In a city that struggles with rising crime and health care woes, its public school systems aren't exactly equipped to prepare youth for the travails of young adulthood.
Leave your thoughts about Homeroom.
| Film ThreatAlan NgHomeroom is a fantastic piece of documentary storytelling |
| The A.V. ClubCarlos AguilarWhile Homeroom is far more contained in length and scope than a Frederick Wiseman opus, the way editors Rebecca Adorno and Kristina Motwani construct a narrative from a seemingly free-flowing assembly produces a similarly immersive viewing experience, as if one was wandering the school shrouded in an invisibility cloak. |
| IndieWireDavid EhrlichWhile it might feel callous to belabor the rushed and scattershot editing of a documentary that pushed through so many difficulties to exist at all, the circumstances that compromise the film are also the same ones that conspire to make it such an affecting tribute to Nicks’ daughter, a fitting testimony to the perseverance of her entire generation, and a satisfying capstone to a project that has always stressed the need for people in a community to recognize each other’s pain. |
| VarietyLisa KennedyThe Oakland students — and director Nicks — rise to the demands of overlapping crises. With its vibrant if abbreviated portraits and final scenes of burgeoning activism, Homeroom suggest that kids may not be alright, but they are very much on the case. |
| The Hollywood ReporterDan FienbergLast year waylaid many plans and subverted many intentions. Homeroom is one impressive response to that adversity. |
| Rolling StoneK. Austin CollinsHomeroom’s power in is allowing us — encouraging us — to hear these students out for themselves, bearing witness to political identities in the midst of their formation, still molten and moldable and all the more useful to see for that fact. |
| The New York TimesTeo BugbeeLike a diploma, it’s easy to imagine how the rewards of this carefully observed documentary could accrue with a little time. |
| The Film StageMatt CipollaIt’s a very well done documentary on a technical level, and those qualities make it quite energizing at times. It’s the pace that truncates some of the details, making Homeroom too brisk to realize all of its moving parts. |
| Slant MagazineMark HansonDespite the film’s narrow scope, it’s hard to not be impressed by the political and civic engagement of its teen subjects. |
| San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleIn the end, Homeroom lacks impact, taken as a whole, but anyone who sees it will derive something from the experience. |
