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Zoned In (2008)

Director: Daniela Zanzotto

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1 review

Movie review

From Short Review - NY

*** (Three stars)
This amateurish documentary follows Daniel, an adolescent from a black community in the South Bronx, on his journey to the white-bread banality of Rhode Island. With two brothers in jail and an ex–drug dealer for a mother, Daniel attempts to redeem his family’s history through his own success. He finishes Taft High School, where the graduation rate is an alarming 40 percent, and further defies the odds by making it into an Ivy League college. At Brown University, he struggles, as his privileged white classmates and elevated coursework both irk and alienate him. Through the duration of the film, Daniel continually reassesses his own hopes and beliefs about education, race, family and his roots. While the crude Handycam style and directionless Q&As make this film feel like a work-in-progress, Daniel is so charming and humorous, and his insights on the American educational system so poignant, you almost forget that the picture is shaking the whole time.—Jackie Oberman, junior designer

[This is a TONY staff review, written for the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. It is not considered an official review and should not be read as such. Please think of it as a casual impression from a movie-loving friend.] 

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Short Review - NY

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User reviews of this film

  • CRAIG BRAUN said...
    Posted on May 03 2008 02:25 tThis is a documentary that let's the viewer identify with the protagonist and with the universal fears of choices made in the tender teen years...but this boy stacks the deck against himself by opting to go from Taft high to Brown University...motivated by the negative examples of his friends and brothers ending up in prison...his experiences trying to find his place and a sense of belonging is very moving...he doubts but continues
    to make herculean academic efforts and in doing so...
    becomes enlightened about goals one sets and ultimately decides to return to his Bronx roots and teach
    ...show that there are other ways besides sports, boxing and drugs to make something out of a "zoned-in" life...
    consciously he finds that his family becomes the main event...he doesn't want "out"...he wants to be a father
    to his sons and a teacher who inspires...thanks to the director not going for a result or thesis with her point of view...we trudge this young man's road and feel great identification and compassion for his confusion and second thoughts along the way...ms. zanzotto knows how to hold lightly the reins of a film seeking honesty and the truth of the heart... .
    i'll be looking forward to her next exploration
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Cast & crew

Director: Daniela Zanzotto


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