10 Best Indie Movies Of 2016 (So Far)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%

At just 72 minutes, The Fits is a short and sweet debut from writer/director Anna Rose Holmer that tells its story through the language of the body. It follows Toni, an 11-year-old boxer who joins a dance drill team at her local recreation centre and is shocked to find her new teammates inexplicably suffering from episodes of hysteric seizures.

Summarized like that the premise barely seems enough to fill a half hour slot on television, but this is a film that employs prolonged periods of zero dialogue to great effect. No talking doesn't necessarily mean no story, as Holmer's characters prove by expressing themselves through movement rather than conventional narrative, with the result being a powerful, poetic piece of filmmaking.

The Fits is all about rhythm. Flicked on to mute it would seem like nothing was happening for large chunks, but, much like 2014 indie smash Whiplash, the sound is an essential part of the movie. In place of the snaps and thuds of a drum kit being hammered, scenes are carried by the hypnotic slapping of bare feet on hardwood floors and thudding of boxing gloves against punchbags.

That said, when the script calls for some actual acting to cut through the atmosphere it slowly creates, it gets it from newcomer Royalty Hightower. The young actress delivers a performance as memorable as her name, capturing the uncertainty of adolescence perfectly in this low-budget, low-concept drama.