Pahokee

2019

1h 50m

Documentary

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100%

22 Reviews

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Four small-town high school students who are believed to hold the key to the future experience the ups and downs of life in senior year.

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greg r

Bad ass documentary making

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

Film treatments of high school, fictional and otherwise, tend toward either the extremely mawkish or extremely cynical (or, the Hollywood way since John Hughes, they start with the latter and end with the former, to let you know that you can be cool and still get dewy-eyed with secondhand sentiment). Pahokee is something else entirely. The story of a high school in the second poorest town in Florida, the film follows four teens through their senior year so invisibly that it seems the kids themselves can't even see the camera recording them. All the elements of teen melodrama are present - a run for Homecoming Queen, an immigrant student working her butt off to ensure her parents' sacrifices for her are not in vain, a state football championship (and ensuing controversy courtesy of athletic commission officials), a shooting in a local park with half the town in attendance, a single parent student - but the filmmakers' vision is never anything less than clear-eyed and matter-of-fact. The end result is a deeper and truer sense of these young lives than any manipulative narrative backed by a sentimental soundtrack could produce.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/20/23

Full Review

Audience Member

An intimate look at the lives of four high school seniors. The movie shares their perspectives in a way that is not often offered to people in small towns like Pahokee.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

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Kathleen Sachs

Chicago Reader

Bresnan's elegiac shooting style...doesn't serve to gloss over the difficult subject matter, but rather brings out the beauty of the tenacious protagonists and the place they call home.

May 13, 2020

Full Review

David Ehrlich

indieWire

Shaggy and unformed as Pahokee often seems, the film - like its subjects, and the town where they live - is more than the sum of its parts.

Rated: B

May 5, 2020

Full Review

Jen Yamato

Los Angeles Times

With a patient and unobtrusive eye, filmmakers Lucas and Bresnan paint impressionistic portraits of a quartet of charismatic teenagers over the course of a pivotal school year.

Apr 24, 2020

Full Review

Joe Friar

The Victoria Advocate

An immersive documentary that captures the essence of a rite of passage that to most high school seniors represents the pinnacle of their lives. You are left caring for these teens and community.

Rated: 3/4

May 2, 2020

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Pat Mullen

POV Magazine

Every now and then comes a documentary that feels like an American landmark. Pahokee is one of those films.

Apr 27, 2020

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Edwin Arnaudin

Asheville Movies

The rich sense of place fosters deep connection to its inhabitants across multiple storylines, resulting in dramatic arcs and several well-earned gut-punch moments.

Rated: 4.5/5

Apr 26, 2020

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Synopsis

Four small-town high school students who are believed to hold the key to the future experience the ups and downs of life in senior year.

Producer: Ryan Heller, Lisa Leingang
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 14, 2020
Runtime: 1h 50m

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