Pariah

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To watch this film is to be in the presence of a remarkable talent -- Dee Rees. This is an unusually accomplished piece of filmmaking, not simply for someone starting out, but for anyone with a couple of decades of writing and directing behind them. Ms. Rees is that good. Add to this her sensitivity and passion in exploring a young woman of color as she navigates her inner awakenings, her growing awareness of who she is. Ms. Rees handles this with the confidence of a long-time pro. And with the understanding of one who very much understands the roiling waters of her young character's dilemma. Ms. Rees handles the young actor, Adepero Oduye, with equally assured sensitivity. Ms. Oduye takes over the screen without showcasing herself, often underplaying a moment, letting us come to her. There's no 'emoting' ... for proof of the young Ms. Oduye's impressively wide range, check her out in the current Richard Gere film, The Dinner. In her scenes with Gere, Ms. Oduye dominates the frame, an old scene-stealer like Richard Gere no match for the oh-so talented Adepero Oduye. She wipes him off the screen! A smashing talent, Ms. Odoye, and smashing-looking, to boot. Though the film works for both the LGBT and (I suppose, can't speak from experience) non-LGBT audience, it is especially satisfying and heartening to see us portrayed with such unflinching honesty and understanding. With Pariah and Moonlight, directors of color are showing the way home when it comes to exploring our LGBT world.

"It's not a phase, there's nothing wrong with me." Teenager Alike (Oduye) is struggling with who she is. At home she tries to be the woman her mother and father want her to be. Away from home she tries to be herself. Leading the double life is starting to wear "Li" down and she uses her writing to help release the emotions out that she holds. To be honest I wasn't really looking forward to this one. The preview made the movie look OK but I was still expecting it to be a little boring. I was dead wrong. Almost from the beginning you feel a connection with "Li" and throughout the movie that only grows. The acting is excellent in this and Kim Wayans (yes, that Kim Wayans) give a performance that is almost better the Mo'Nique's in "Precious". This movie is comparable to that one in a lot of ways. I will say that this movie is easier to watch and in my opinion better the "Precious". Very moving and real. One of the bigger surprises I have had watching a movie lately. Overall, if you liked "Precious" you will love this movie. I give it an A.

This movie turned out to be pretty good. Quality black dramas are so rare and this one definitely didn't disappoint. The script was well executed and the scenes seemed to piece together like falling dominoes, rather than a jigsaw puzzle with numerous elements missing. Alike is the main character who struggles with being what she considers her true self. Her domineering mother and the opinions of society causes her to repress who she is, a gay female who enjoys dressing like a guy. The agony of not being able to express her true self shows throughout her body language and face and I thought that was pretty good acting. Alike's mother specifically represented society who represses people's right to freedom through rules and moral codes. Alike's father is clearly having an affair but the mother struggles to ignore it, wanting to maintain her made up happy life. Her choice of ignorance symbolizes society's quest to ignore the realities, of what's truly real about people. The pacing and execution of this film reminded me of something Spike Lee would do.

The faces are beautifully filmed. And lit. And overall many scenes are good for being stand alone pictures. But the story is bland. I could not relate with it. And the cast is extended, I had a hard time following who has what place. And although beautiful as pictures, the dark moody backdrops make the story even harder to follow.

Pariah (2011) *** 1/2 (out of 4) A 17-year-old Brooklyn teenager (Adepero Oduye) must try and deal with her changing sexual feelings as well as deal with her parents (Charles Parnell, Kim Wayans) who can't fully see that she's beginning to have lesbian feelings for another local teen. I'm sure PARIAH was someone inspired by PRECIOUS, another film dealing with a black teen trying to come to terms with their own lifestyle as well as the troubled relationship with a parent. This film here comes from director Dee Rees and she does an incredibly strong job bringing it to the screen. While the film isn't quite as powerful as PRECIOUS there's no question that it's extremely raw and almost feels like a documentary because of how fresh and frank it is. I thought a lot of the success falls into the lap of Oduye who does a remarkable job as the teenager. Again, she doesn't come off as a professional actress but instead she just comes across so real. The frankness of her situation is perfectly handled by the actress and I really thought she did a great job at showing the troubled feelings of this character. Wayans is also very powerful as the mother who wants her daughter to be "good" or whatever good is to her eyes. Parnell easily steals the film as the father in a very memorable role and performance. At just 84-minutes the film doesn't overstay its welcome and for the most part it never comes off the tracks. It's not a pretty film to watch as I'm sure the subject matter will turn some off but those who decide to watch it will be rewarded with some great performances and direction.

This movie was a breath of fresh air. It hasn't been released yet but I got see it today and I'm going to pimp it to death until it's released. Finally, a movie about LGTB youth of color. Finally, a movie that shows the afro-punk and underground black rock culture. Finally, a movie about how difficult it is to come out in a homophobic Christian black home. This movie was powerful, the characters were complex, no one was a walking stereotype, and it managed to balance angst with humor. Now how to summarize it without giving too much away.... Well, basically, it's about a black girl named Alike, who is going through an gender and sexual identity transformation. She's trying to please everyone, being as 'girl-like' as possible for her mother, and being as boyish as she can for the ladies she wants to attract (or is it for herself? That's not really clear). Either way, it's not working out too well; people are starting to catch on that she may be gay. So when a new gay bar opens up in town, the real trouble starts. She starts sneaking out to with a very butch and out-of-the-closet friend, and becoming more curious about exploring all of the facets of her identity. Her mother is basically a fundamentalist Christian, while her father is a agnostic cop. It starts to get complicated when her mother tries to force her to be more 'lady like' and make arrangements for her to hang out with a fellow church friend's 'respectable' daughter. It doesn't quite work out like the mom planned, and it doesn't work out like Alike expected it to either. What's cool about this movie is that it shows how cultural and religious expectations intersect in a way to marginalize people in their own communities. It also shows how people can try to hold onto things so tightly that they end up breaking the very thing they're afraid of losing, or driving it away completely. The acting was really fantastic, the dialog was very realistically funny and uncomfortable at times, and the music was perfect. I also really liked how they used alternative music to show a different side of black culture that you rarely see in mainstream media. In some ways I think it was symbolic of the film's message about liberation and taking a different path. I won't give away the ending but we walked away from this one feeling uplifted. Two enthusiastic thumbs up.

For me there is no denying it that this was simply being one great, little movie! I can see why some people love it but I can also see why some would hate it. That's the curse and blessing of an independent movie I guess; you'll either simply hate it or just love it! For me this was being a very good and interesting watch, most likely due to its original concept. There are of course plenty of coming of age movies out there and also lots of movies about youngsters dealing with their sexuality, among many other issues. But as far as to my knowledge there never has been a coming of age movie, involving a lesbian character, set in the African-American community. It's weird to say, since it shouldn't be such a big deal. Nobody in the free-world should feel obligated to pretend to be someone that he or she just isn't and everybody has a right to be happy in his or her own way, no matter what your background or your sexual orientation is. And this movie of course deals with these issues and does it in a pretty realistic and effective way. It's actually due to the movie its realistic feeling and look that it all works out so effectively. none of the situations or characters in this movie feel exaggerated in any way and the movie deliberate remains small and humble with its story, settings and characters. It never goes all out on anything and the movie luckily also doesn't feel pretentious at all, not even with its directing approach, which is the sort of approach that easily could had annoyed me. The approach of this movie is a very fast pace, in which stuff happens, without having a 'normal' movie buildup to it (of course also mostly with hand-held camera-work involved). Some slower moments perhaps would had been nice, so things could sink in better and stuff could have a bigger impact as well but on the other hand this might had gone at the expense of the movie its realistic feeling. So I'm definitely contend with the approach this movie was taking, though I couldn't help but think that some things could had been better and could had made a bigger and more emotional impact. The movie as it is isn't being all that emotional and involving, at least not for me. Who knows, maybe there are age groups and persons out there who went through somewhat the same things and struggles as the movie its main character, who will get grabbed more by this movie and feel emotional involved with it, all the way through. For me, this movie was still absolutely being one fine, little genre movie, despite that I still had some issues with it. 8/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

So we got another film like broke back mountain, and can consider this one as what broke back mountain would be if we go back when the characters were child. The film explores very nicely how gay and lesbian would feel and cope up with the fact when they find that they are what they are. Family is a biggest problem when proceeding with something like this. The acting is very nice by alike. I liked particularly the lighting in the film. they were apt and truly defined the actual notion of the film. The character of the father was nicely sketched and properly shown. There is nothing wrong in the film. I would say this is one of the best films on a different subject matter. "A must watch for all film buffs and a definite one time watch for anyone wanting to explore different story lines."

Perhaps Pariah occupies a title that is a bit too heavy for its subject matter. The film around a seventeen year old girl, black and lesbian in an urban neighborhood, that is trying to come of age in a time where she is placed into the rare category of being "a minority within a minority." She has some friends, a distant relationship with her parents (not uncommon in teens), and, at the end, her future still has rays of light peaking through the gloom. I have hope for her, and believe that labeling her as a "pariah" is a bit too harsh. The seventeen year old is named Alike (A-lie-kah, played by Adepero Oduye). Her parents are the heavily-Christian Audrey (Wayans) and the workaholic Arthur (Parnell). Alike usually spends her nights at seamy nightclubs, with her friends and a trusty fake ID. She finds it harder and harder to keep her desires and orientation concealed from her family, and, like most girls around that age, resorts to peer discussions which serve as her motivation. Let's stop right there; it takes no expert to realize that this is a cliché premise. I understand that. What do I say about cliché premises? When taken with enough heart, seriousness, and personality, they can be involving pictures all the same. Pariah gets involved with a number of different areas in film, that usually go untouched in a coming of age picture. For one, atmosphere is put to great use here. This is a story of urban alienation, depicting homosexuality in areas where we don't often see it. I was reminded of Scorsese's Taxi Driver while watching a lot of Pariah. Atmospheres are brightly colored and vividly shot. Lots of shots bleed with color, and a lot of silence is punctuated by inviting background music, sometimes cut with boombox hip-hop. Both stories depict lonely protagonists, hungering for acceptance in society, but are continuously left lost, wandering in the sea of despair. Movies like Pariah are wonderful because they showcase new talents in a familiar world. Another fantastic debut this year was Josh Trank's Chronicle, which had a creative premise, determined actors, and a slick script that lacked in cheap exploitation and gimmicks. Pariah was originally a twenty-eight minute short film, created by director Dee Rees, and in just a few years, has expanded the idea into a fantastic film. Spike Lee serves as one of the executive producers, and in many ways, from the gritty writing to the unsettling atmosphere (just like in Do the Right Thing and Malcolm X) it mirrors a film he could've made. Not to mention, aside from the film's behind the scenes work, it is also a beauty performance-wise. Adepero Oduye is forced to carry a grand weight of the film on her back, and accepts the challenge almost effortlessly, and Kim Wayans as the blatantly harsh mother, holding back fits of rage and attitude is also a well unsung role. Pariah's story is a great one, depicting homosexuality in places we don't think about, another fascinating story of urban alienation, and showcasing extremely well-cast actors performing beautifully written material. If it keeps up, Dee Rees could become the female Spike Lee. Starring: Adepero Oduye, Kim Wayans, and Aasha Davis. Directed by: Dee Rees.