A still from Speak. by Jennifer Tiexiera and Guy Mossman, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.

Speak Review: America’s Youths Deliver Straight from the Heart

Sundance 2025

/
6 mins read

Speak.
(USA, 104 min.)
Dir. Jennifer Tiexiera, Guy Mossman
Programme: US Documentary Competition (World premiere)

 

Let’s speak the truth: few forms of documentary inspire as grand a standing ovation as the competition documentary when done correctly. It’s a formula tried and tested. Pick a few contenders, follow them through the gauntlet, and buttress vérité footage with confessional interviews that offer insights and heighten the emotional stakes. Films from Spellbound to Step to Science Fair have done it, as does pretty much every competitive reality series. When the formula reveals itself too strongly, though, competition docs feel overly familiar or, worse, clichéd. When the formula works, however, the result often proves a winning combination.

The math really adds up for Speak. This sure-fire crowd-pleaser by Jennifer Tiexiera (Subject) and Guy Mossman (Feels Good Man) will have audiences ready to cheer. It follows five students as they prepare for the national championships in public speaking. Their terrain is the original oratory. In short, they have to prepare a speech and deliver it with enough heart and dramatic gusto to persuade the judges with their gift for gab.

Speak finds five worthy voices among many to encapsulate this match between orators. The two-time defending champion is Esther. A young woman of Nigerian heritage, she eyes an history opportunity to be the first person to win the competition thrice. Her speech considers how bad faith politicians exploit the “save the children” mantra that offers lip service but doesn’t protect America’s youths. Mfas, meanwhile, struggles to find the right Sesame Street metaphors to showcase her pride in wearing a hijab as a Muslim Sudanese-American. The participants generally see these two young women as the main competition. And everyone names Esther when they’re asked who poses the biggest threat to win.

Rounding out the competition, Sam must learn how best to contain his jazz hands so that he doesn’t overdo his expressions while sharing his experience growing up as a gay teenager whose pastor father struggled to express love and acceptance. Family matters also fuel Noor, whose little brother inspires a genuine message about disability rights. Finally, Noah, who has autism, has his coach concerned that reflecting on his mother’s suicide could yield an unpredictable outcome depending upon the judges’ and audiences’ own experiences.

Speak observes these five participants as they workshop their speeches. Going a few seconds over time can cost them the trophy. So too could overly exaggerated dramatic beats that make a speech feel forced. Each kid brings a distinct personality to the documentary, too. Their personable nature lets the documentary reflect a diversity of experiences and invests audiences in each contestant. One can’t help but root for a five-way tie.

If there’s a fault to the film, or perhaps an area where formula betrays it, it’s that the outcome is fairly predictable. Fans well-versed in these kind of films and series can spot a “winner edit” a mile away. Even though the filmmakers do their best to ensure a climactic showdown, and handsomely shot and briskly edited work makes the gauntlet remains consistently engaging, the judges’ choice proves a no-brainer.

What makes Speak such a winner in its own right, however, is the competition at hand. Other competition docs often succeed or bellyflop based on how well the activity translates cinematically. A film like Step, for one, proves thrilling because dance has a visual hook. (Science fairs, meanwhile, are pretty dry.) However, public speaking offers an ideal challenge. The nature of the oratory competition means that direct-address  appeals consistently connect the participants with their audience. Their heartfelt emotion, doubled and tripled with exhaustion, makes for a sincerely compelling experience. This is one of those films that inspires a viewer to lean in.

The winning shot comes through the subjects that these five young people give a platform. Speak provides terrific analysis of contemporary American politics expressed through the vernacular of young people. These are accessible perspectives among that take on the challenges of America’s past, present, and future. The speakers advance in the competition because their carefully chosen words and precise diction come dressed in perfectly balanced cocktails of passion and rage. These kids aren’t afraid to get angry, show pain, and articulate their desire for change.

Addressing issues such as gun violence, racism, Islamophobia, mental health, and LGBTQ+ rights among other urgent matters, the film lays out everything on the table that the USA needs to tackle. That kids force these conversations when adult politicians avoid them underscores the “king’s gambit” of which Ether speaks during her showstopping plea to stop making kids like her pawns in political warfare. These kids are future leaders who don’t shy away from saying that the status quo needs to go. Talk about a film that speaks to the moment!

Speak premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.

Pat Mullen is the publisher of POV Magazine. He holds a Master’s in Film Studies from Carleton University where his research focused on adaptation and Canadian cinema. Pat has also contributed to outlets including The Canadian Encyclopedia, Paste, That Shelf, Sharp, Xtra, and Complex. He is the vice president of the Toronto Film Critics Association and an international voter for the Golden Globe Awards.

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