Daughters (2024)

A group of incarcerated fathers are promised the opportunity to have a dance with their young daughters after they undergo some sessions with a counsellor who encourages discussion between them about what the relationship with their children means to each of them. Meantime, we are introduced to the entertainingly enthusiastic Aubrey who is desperate to see her father and who serves as a conduit to other mothers and children who are - with varying degrees of wholeheartedness - involved in this project. Across the next hundred minutes or so, we follow the preparation and anticipation on both sides before the children duly arrive for their brief and emotional afternoon. What got me about this whole thing is the director's decision not to inform us as to just why these men are in jail in the first place. With sentences ranging from the short to thirty years, I quickly felt I was being lured into a feeling of sympathy for individuals about whom I knew practically nothing. As none of the men themselves seemed keen to elaborate own what crimes actually put them in jail, I began to wonder if they were just hard-luck, petty, thieves or serial rapists. Might the youngsters actually be better off without their dads? It's set amidst a prison in Washington D.C. so it does offer us an occasionally interesting look at some aspects of African American familial culture and attitudes but again, it doesn't try to put much meat on any bones from the perspective of the spouses about coping or raising the children in difficult circumstances. The aim of the scheme to reconcile (compulsorily) estranged fathers and daughters is laudable enough, but this documentary really only presents us with a rather incomplete and selective character study. It might work better as a two-part television documentary, but as a cinema piece it's a bit of an unrewarding slog.