Reviews:
"A
compelling and remarkable documentary, so honestly portrayed and so
amazingly revealing. The film captures the angst of middle school girls
away from home. All share the pains of in-group out-group tensions, the
hurt from which echoes the rejection, perceived or real, from parents
and surrogate parents. What is exemplary about the film is that it
depicts, in an engaging real-life documentary, all that psychologists
and educators have taught us about early adolescence. And as an
audience we are helpless to intervene as the year passes and tensions
in the dormitory build. At the film's end, filmmaker Jane Gray
generously provides us with brief summaries of each girl's after-school
progress. These reassure us that each managed to survive the first year
and move beyond the conflicts and tensions that characterize this
painful stage of the human life cycle." Keith Brodie , Duke University President Emeritus and James B. Duke Prof. of Psychiatry
"In
Playing House, documentary filmmaker Jane Gray chronicles a year in the
life of five girls enrolled for the first time in boarding school, as
if being 12 and 13 years old is not hard enough. The camera is
unsparing in its exposure of how deftly these 7th and 8th graders learn
and practice the womanly arts of psycho-social warfare with their
gloves off, while dealing with complex personal issues such as body
image, class identity and self-worth that seem to flower within each of
us at this age, and are seldom fully resolved in the course of a
lifetime. Viewers will see a part of themselves reflected in
each of these children as they face, conquer, fail, and recover from
the transitional mine field that is that life-defining passage of
middle school ." Rob & Jeannine Seymour, Santa Fe Film Festival
"A
compelling, sensitive, and sometimes very funny look at the lives of
the young female residents of Webster House, a freshman dorm at the
exclusive Fay School. Filmmaker Jane Gray astutely observes the
complexities of privilege, expectation, and disappointment over the
span of an academic year in this rarefied educational environment." Ross McElwee, Producer/ Director, 'Bright Leaves', 'Sherman's March'
"Jane
Gray's affecting vérité film Playing House (March 28 at 6 p.m. at the
MFA) offers an intimate, revealing look inside a boarding school.
Descending into a maelstrom of cliques and cattiness, Gray's camera
trains itself on five teenage girls who are away from their far-flung
homes for the first time. In more lighthearted moments they hex friends
from home by poking pins into yearbook photos and complain about
homework while singing along to Britney. Less breezy are the tearful
calls home to dysfunctional families and the confrontations about cruel
teasing. Such emotionally naked moments may make you feel voyeuristic,
but they give Gray's story an empathetic authenticity." Mike Miliard, Boston Phoenix
"
One of the very best of filmmakers to emerge from Harvard's production
program is Jane Gray, a virtuoso verité practioner who recently
completed her first feature-length work, "Playing House." What
distinguishes Jane's work is not only the intimacy and precision of her
exploration, but also her choice of subject matter. Where the vast
majority of young nonfiction makers have turned their cameras onto the
global arena of the dispossessed, Jane has taken Rossellini's advice
and focused instead on the world of privilege. " Bruce Jenkins, Curator , Harvard Film Archive
"Playing House is a touching, provocative, and ultimately rather unnerving film. It's important that it be seen." Joy Goodwin, Emmy-winning ABC producer
"Whoever
said childhood is a carefree, painless time was dead wrong, according
to "Playing House," an independent documentary film that opens a door
to inner emotions of five girls who share a dorm. Jealousy,
weight issues, self-image and dysfunctional families are only a few
aspects of the lives this documentary touches on. Each girl
brings her problems and feelings, and each deals with them in a
different way. A very intense story unfolds as the camera gets
perspectives on the conflicts and the inside scoop on everyone's anger
and hurt. If you heard only one side of the story, you probably
would judge each girl in a totally different way." Emily Sellinger, Kidsday reporter, age 13, Newsday Long Island
"Playing House
reminds us just how much observational filmmaking still has to offer,
and its particular affinity with the lives of its subjects. This
film offers a nuanced, respectful, and insightful look at both the
aspirations and the apprehensions of teenage girls at an elite
Massachusetts boarding school. The viewers are wholly caught up
in their struggle at once to realize their budding adult selves and to
resolve emerging personality and behavioral differences within the
confines of the school. A perspicacious work that exceeds in
both form and content the platitudes of broadcast journalism." Lucien Taylor, Co-Director, "In and Out of Africa"; Co-Author,"Cross-Cultural Filmmaking"
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Photo: Jane Gray
