Debut effort cautious but admirable At a glance
Any documentary that shows how young people are being given a chance to better themselves through special programs comes through as both inspirational and depressing.
The organizers of such programs cannot receive enough praise for the work they do in communities nationwide. But that notion is tainted because such programs are needed to make change happen.
Children should always be a priority, but they aren’t — and that’s when programs such as the one spotlighted in “Step,” by director Amanda Lipitz, try to fill the voids.
Lipitz, a Broadway producer making her filmmaking debut, focuses her cameras on three seniors expected to be in the first graduating class at the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women. The program’s chief goal is to make sure that all who graduate go to college.
The young women not only face financial and educational barriers to the goal but also are living in a time of deep social unrest after the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody in April 2015.
The director uses the political and social turmoil as a backdrop for telling both the stories of how the women are dealing with college applications and being part of the school’s competitive stepdance program.
Struggles with academics and competitions are shared by the seniors and their parents, teammates, coaches, friends, families and teachers.
Of the three seniors at the heart of the film, Blessin Giraldo is struggling the most. She showed her leadership skills by starting the step team as an eighthgrader, but her academic accomplishments have been less fruitful. To make it to college, she is going to need some last-minute effort, determination and luck.
Further complicating the situation: She must find a way to succeed while dealing with her mother’s battle with anger and depression.
Most of Giraldo’s support comes from the school’s new step coach, Gari McIntyre, whose background is similar to those of her team members. Also pushing the struggling senior is counselor Paula Dofat, who wants to make sure that Giraldo doesn’t become another statistic of failure.
The two other seniors, Cori Granger and Tayla Solomon, are on more-stable trajectories.
The biggest worry for Granger is whether her family will be able to find a way to financially support her college dreams. Solomon is often dealing with the embarrassment she feels because of her overly enthusiastic mother.
Lipitz’s effort to draw attention to a program that’s working is reason enough to applaud “Step.” It earns high points for good intentions, but the film would have scored higher had Lipitz not taken such a standard approach to the story.
The tale is very linear, covering less than a year in Lipitz. Directed by Amanda
PG (for thematic elements and some language) 1:23 at the Easton 30 and Pickerington theaters the lives of the three young women. Lipitz has known about the program since 2009, when she and her mother, Brenda Brown Rever, helped to co-found the school.
The documentary would have had a much-deeper texture had the three subjects been followed from their first day to graduation.
Lipitz also shows a passiveness, which never bodes well for a documentary. Gray’s death occurred after she started filming, but what should have been a powerful force in the thinking and actions of the seniors instead comes across as somewhat distant. A more-seasoned filmmaker would have better capitalized on the power of the time frame.
Lipitz’s passion for showing what can happen when women of all generations focus on one goal is a tale worth touting from every street corner.
She does succeed, even if she could have stepped up the level of details.