Go for it! - DVD

Film: Carmen Saldago (Aimee Garcia), who comes from a simple background, actually has great potential. But her sometimes rather narrow-minded nature and complete focus on her great passion of dancing keep getting in her way. But her teacher Mr. Martin (Al Bandiero) recognizes Carmen's potential and persuades her to apply to a school in California where her dancing talents would be adequately nurtured. But her parents don't like that at all, which is why a big fight ensues, as a result of which Carmen leaves her parents' house and moves in with her best friend Gina (Gina Rodriguez). That she then falls in love with Jared (Derrick Denicola), who comes from a good family, makes her life a little nicer, but not exactly easier. In addition, Gina also has to deal with a big problem, which will also affect Carmen's life permanently.

Go for it! tries to dance in a league with successful dance films like Step Up or Street Dance. Director Carmen Marron also drew inspiration from her own youth experiences for the screenplay of her directorial debut. But even though the whole thing is based on a true story, it still follows all the currently very common clichés of the genre. A rebellious young woman who has her heart in the right place underneath her rough exterior and hopes to find her place in life through her love of dancing is a somewhat overused cliché. But there are two factors that set this work apart from similar productions.

First, Carmen Marron almost single-handedly put the film together for a mini-budget. She put together all the financing and even casting or finding the right locations are on her account. So Go for it! can undoubtedly be seen as an affair of the filmmaker's heart. The second difference is that, perhaps because of the low budget, but perhaps also because Marron cared deeply about the story, dancing is not the focus of the film. While there are some dance sequences, they can't compete in either mass or class with those from bigger productions like Step Up. Instead, Marron focuses on the relationship between Carmen and Jared, as well as the story surrounding Gina's violent boyfriend and the tragic events that come with it. It is noticeable in the production that this is a directorial debut.

So the whole thing seems a bit too tried and awkward to really captivate the viewer. However, for the target audience, which should mainly consist of girls or young women between 14 and 22, there are enough successful and engaging moments in the story that make you overlook some weaknesses. So the bottom line is: certainly not a milestone in the currently somewhat overused genre, but for fans this low budget project implemented with a lot of heart and soul is well worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: That Go for it! was created for an extremely low budget, is then also noticeable in the technical implementation. A high quality, as it is usually found in big budget blockbusters, should not be expected here. Overall, however, the clean picture pleases with its coherent coloring and the decent overall sharpness. When it comes to the sound, the music and dialogue are of course in the foreground and also come out of the speakers atmospherically. Good.

Extras: Except for trailers, the DVD has no bonus material to offer.

Conclusion: Go for it! struggles to stand out from the crowd of recent dance films. The story is too conventional and the dance sequences too unspectacular to leave a lasting impression. Nevertheless, fans of the genre can definitely risk a look, even if the technically decent DVD has no bonus material to offer.

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp