A lack of focus meets a lack of time: A review of “Stand Up & Shout: Songs from a Philly High School”

It’s no secret musical ability is a rare gift; yet, one high school in Philadelphia seems to have a plethora of this talent. Unfortunately for this documentary, the filmmakers couldn’t figure out how to focus in on those musical students.

Viewable on HBO, or Max, this 54-minute documentary follows high school students at Philadelphia’s Hill-Freedman World Academy as they work with professionals in the industry to create original songs. The documentary begins by showcasing them learning song creation basics to a live performance of what they’ve made.

Where this documentary fails is its runtime in comparison to the number of characters they’ve chosen to follow. 

Despite the title and description leading viewers to believe the focus will be on the students creating the music, it instead shifts to the three artists helping the students. While the three artists are clearly talented and have a passion for giving back, it’s the students’ stories I wish they’d homed in on.

Audiences are given glimpses of the students’ lives and the communities they live in; however, these end up being glossed over moments. Song creation is clearly a challenging and lengthy creative process that I wish we’d heard more than brief statements on.

The editing in this documentary also falls short as they rely heavily on b-roll and voiceover rather than caught-in-the-moment content. This makes it feel more constructed and manipulated rather than a naturalist view of this song creation program. 

There’s also so many subjects that this documentary tries to focus on, making the cutting seem jarring and confusing at times as there’s no one person that they’re trying to follow.

One aspect I did find compelling about this documentary was the musical ability of the students. The filmmakers chose a good subject pool, and while not all of them were on the same level, there were definitely many with raw talent. 

Getting to watch those students with talent overcome stage fright and their inner critics also added to this documentary’s theming. 

Unfortunately, the little screen time that was given to these moments caused me to leave this documentary without being impacted by its purpose.

Review Rewind: Hoop Dreams

“Hoop Dreams” is a 1994 Oscar-nominated documentary that follows two inner-city Chicago students as they work to fulfill their dreams of becoming professional basketball players. Where this documentary succeeds is in its focus on the two boys rather than a plethora of unremarkable characters. Audiences are rooting for the success of these two subjects the entire time and this level of investment makes it a compelling watch.