Filmmaker Joanne Hershfield's study of her developmentally disabled twentysomething daughter Gillian centers on the latter moving away from her family and into her first apartment. Home movie clips of Gillian as a young girl are interwoven with more recent footage of her tap dancing and attending drama class, enjoying herself at various parties and dances, and participating in the Special Olympics (her various sports include horse jumping and skiing). Gillian, who works as a veterinary assistant, stutters a bit and sometimes has trouble expressing herself, and one can understand her folks' worry about their daughter being taken advantage of in the outside world, but some viewers are likely to be put off by Hershfield's honest yet harsh asides regarding her vision of a “dream daughter” being pushed aside. Too, while Gillian's positive attitude shines through, she visibly darkens at having a camera repeatedly shoved in her face (when asked about what she'll miss about home, she answers pets first, then her parents). Sure to promote discussion, this alternately moving and provocative profile is recommended, overall. Aud: C, P. (J. Williams-Wood)
The Gillian Film
(2006) 44 min. DVD or VHS: $100: public libraries & high schools; $199: colleges & universities. New Day Films (tel: 888-367-9154, web: <a href="http://www.newday.com/">www.newday.com</a>). PPR. Closed captioned. ISBN: 1-57448-184-3 (dvd). December 24, 2007
The Gillian Film
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
Order From Your Favorite Distributor Today: