Ariela Rubin on Blowin Up (2018) which opens Friday

With BLOWIN' UP hitting theaters Friday i am rerunning Ariela's review from last year's Tribeca

Blowin’ Up is a documentary mostly set inside a Queens court that deals with women who have prostitution charges against them. In this courtroom they aren’t seen as criminals. The judge offers women to either plead guilty and face the charges (often including deportation), deny the charges and go to trial or go to an advocacy/support session 6 times at GEMS and have the charges be dropped and there would be no record.

The judge is great and makes sure that she is clear and makes sure the women understand their options. The documentary spends a lot of time with one of the counselors of GEMS and her interactions with the women.

I liked this documentary. However, I had some issues with it. I would have liked to have heard more about GEMS and what they do (I do plan to google to find out more). I also was hoping there would be a “where are they now” part at the end about these women, but maybe it’s too soon to do this. Lastly, I would have liked to have heard more of the stories of these women. They did include one, but I would have liked to have learned more.