The Kids Grow Up (2009)

A humorous and deeply moving look at father-daughter relationships, modern-day parenting, marriage and the looming empty nest.

Director:

Doug Block

Writer:

Doug Block

Storyline

A humorous and deeply moving look at father-daughter relationships, modern-day parenting, marriage and the looming empty nest.

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Plot Keywords:

father daughter relationship | home movie | childhood | growing up | high school student | 

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Taglines:

Letting go is hard to do

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Genres:

Documentary

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA Netherlands Germany UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 September 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Almost Gone

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$4,497 (USA) (29 October 2010)

Gross:

$10,241 (USA) (19 November 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Copacetic Pictures, Hard Working Movies, ZDF/Arte

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Color:

Color

User Reviews

One man's look at what it's like to let your kid start being an adult...

Could you imagine if your father stuck a video camera in your face practically every day while you were growing up? That's what documentary filmmaker Doug Block does here with his only child, a daughter, Lucy. What started out as home movies and memories turned into a full-blown project about how kids grow up and move on with their lives.

We open with Lucy in a ballerina outfit, dancing around in the living room as Doug narrates what's happening in Lucy's life right now. She's in her final year of High School and will soon be moving out to college. He states, "You can get all sorts of information on raising a child... but nothing prepares you for letting her go." From there, we see Doug follow Lucy around on the West Coast scouting out some possible college choices. They live on the East Coast. And quite frankly, if I was her, I would want to try and be as far away from Dad as possible too.

It's not as intrusive as I make it sound, believe me. Lucy does have her privacy -- there's no filming in the obvious areas and Dad doesn't film without her permission. Sure, there are times when she's upset and there are times when she flat out tells him, "I don't want to do this right now". Dad obliges and puts the camera down. Lucy sure was easier to film when she was younger, she loved the camera and she loved talking to her Dad. As she got older, we could see the starting of frustration and anger setting in. She even got a year off of filming when she went to Paris for a school exchange program. She came back speaking French fluently.... and a serious boyfriend.

Doug also films his wife, Marjorie, and gets her thoughts about Lucy leaving for college. She seems to be the level-headed matriarch of the family. He also gets to do some interviews with his father and his new wife -- asking him how he dealt with the "empty nest" syndrome. He gets some good stuff on tape and some of it is worth watching and listening to. It is a hard film to watch sometimes, though -- it'll make you either start thinking about what you are going to do when your kids grow up or it'll make you ponder your past and how you dealt with your kids leaving and it just might make you wish you had a father that loved at least half as much as Doug loves his daughter.

I do wish that Doug would have waited to release this documentary a few more years, though. I wanted an update on how Lucy is doing and better yet, how Doug and Marjorie are doing and dealing. After sitting and watching for 90 minutes, I wanted a blurb or something at the end to fill in some blanks. Perhaps he's waiting for the sequel. Hide now, Lucy.... hurry! More reviews at www.soveryterry.com Final Grade: B