‘Daughters’ Review: A Dance Becomes Both a Reunion and a Reckoning In a Sage Documentary
variety.comLisa Kennedy In “Daughters,” a group of men gathers in a sunny, brightly hued prison meeting room. Each man wears an orange jumpsuit and has signed on for a 10-week course about fatherhood with life coach Chad Morris in directors Natalie Rae and Angela Patton’s entrancing documentary, debuting at the Sundance Film Festival.
The body language in the room is instructive, not least because it will change over time. Show-me postures will give way to leaning in.
Crickets become questions and confessions as the day nears when the men will attend a dance and luncheon in the repurposed prison gymnasium, reunited with the daughters from whom they’ve been separated.As interesting as the goings-on in that prison room will be, the stars of “Daughters” are the titular girls: Aubrey Smith, 5, Santana Stewart, 10, Ja’Ana Crudup, 11, and Raziah Lewis, 15. “One thing I know from working over a decade with girls is they know what they need,” says Patton in voiceover at the film’s outset.
She is the founder of Girls for Change, the organization that launched its Date with Dad program 12 years earlier. “Daughters” was shot in the first year the dance was held in Washington, D.C.
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