While Netflix has a great track record for attracting A-list talent like Jennifer Lopez and Adam Sandler for its straight-to-streaming projects, sometimes truth is better than fiction. In fact, some of the best movies on Netflix right now are documentaries, and it looks like there’s another one on the way. Amongst this week’s streaming releases is Daughters, and from the looks of the trailer, this one’s got the potential to be both heartwarming and an emotional wrecking ball. One way or the other, those who have seen it seem to be impressed, as it holds a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Daughters, which will be available to stream with a Netflix subscription starting August 14, follows four young girls — Aubrey, Santana, Raziah and Ja’Ana — and their incarcerated fathers as they get ready for a Daddy Daughter Dance made possible through a unique fatherhood program in Washington, D.C. Let’s take a look at why it’s garnered that so-far-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score.
Daughters Holds A 100% Rotten Tomatoes Score
The highly rated documentary Daughters premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, earning the Audience Award for a U.S. documentary. Since then more critics have screened the film ahead of its release, and Carla Hay of Culture Mix confirms audiences are in for quite an emotional journey, writing:
Daughters is quite simply one of the most impactful documentaries of the year. This tearjerking account of a father-daughter dance in a prison tells a larger story of the long-term effects of separation from incarcerated parents. Daughters does not ask viewers to pity these fractured families but to take an honest and often-uncomfortable look at the circumstances that led to these traumas.
Valerie Complex of Deadline discusses how directors Natalie Rae and Angela Patton show us the situation from the girls’ perspective, highlighting how important programs like this are. The critics writes:
By bookending buoyant bonding and peak life moments with unfiltered peeks into the girls’ formative struggles, Rae and Patton underscore how even periodic bursts of bliss hold radical power for reshaping worldviews. Daily trauma absorbed before returning home reiterates why continual cultural and sociopolitical efforts must spread this spark so no child feels forgotten.
Brian Eggert of Deep Focus Review challenges viewers not to crumble into a weepy mess in this beautifully shot but never preachy documentary. Eggert rates it 3.5 stars out of 4, writing:
Some harmonious, polished images and impressionistic editing look conspicuously beautiful, as though arranged for a commercial rather than a grounded documentary. But no rule says a documentary can’t look polished. Refreshingly, Daughters never feels like an activist piece; instead, it communicates its message through observation, respecting the viewer enough not to resort to shouting its message on a soapbox.
It’s definitely not hard to see how Daughters could cause tears to be spilled, even just by watching the trailer.
The Trailer For Netflix’s Daughters Has Me In My Feels
After reading what critics have to say about Daughters, I’m so intrigued by this program and the counseling provided to the fathers ahead of the dance. There also seems to be an emphasis on the importance of physical touch, which comes through in the trailer. Check it out below (and maybe grab a tissue first):
The few details revealed in the trailer about any of the families’ situations only make those moments hit even harder — like the girl counting how many times the Earth will circle the sun before her dad comes home, and the father’s concern that his family’s history of incarceration will carry on to his own little girl. But the strongest image in the trailer, for me, was seeing all the dads lean forward in anticipation when the girls started to walk down the hall.
The 100% Rotten Tomatoes score could always change once more people stream the movie, but between the stellar positive reviews and an affecting trailer, this looks to be a promising option on the Netflix schedule. Stream it starting Wednesday, August 14, and while you’re there, be sure to check out some of the best Netflix shows to binge.
