Pariah

2011 Directed by Dee Rees

Who do you become when you can't be yourself?

A Brooklyn teenager juggles conflicting identities and risks friendship, heartbreak, and family in a desperate search for sexual expression.

Adepero Oduye Pernell Walker Aasha Davis Kim Wayans Charles Parnell Sahra Mellesse Rob Morgan Shamika Cotton Zabryna Guevara Raymond Anthony Thomas Afton Williamson Kim Sykes Nina Daniels Jeremie Harris Chanté Lewis Olithea Anglin Joey Auzenne Jason DarkChocolate Dyer Ozzie Stewart Loren Lillian Stephanie Andujar Yerania Del Orbe Samuel Encarnacion Monique Hazeur Christopher Kardos

86 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by demi adejuyigbe 3

In awe. Never seen a drama like this that is so loving of its homophobic "antagonists" without sacrificing the empathy you have for the queer character at the center. Makes everything so much more complex. I really loved it. Impressed at how many intersections of femininity, sexuality, gender, and social status/appearances it manages to tackle and tackle well in just 86 minutes. And it's really sweet and charming, too! Learning a character is a poet usually ignites a real bad feeling in my gut, but the lines delivered at the end of this movie are just so perfect I don't want to imagine a version where Lee isn't one. Love love love!
Review by Simone ★★★★★ 6

Nothing makes me happier than when I can see pieces of myself in fictional characters. It makes me feel like I'm not just an island floating about in the world by myself, but that I'm a part of the big picture. For all intents and purposes, Pariah is a fairly typical coming-of-age independent drama. However, I can't think of another film that explores what it's like to be a part of this demographic, so even if it isn't original in terms of the film-making, it fills an important gap. I also can't think of another film that so closely mirrored the tug-of-war I went through with my parents as we all tried to come to terms with the fact that…
Review by BRAT ★★★★½

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

"I am not running; I am choosing... I am not broken; I am free. "
oh wow that's the best ending line since before sunset's "Baby, you are gonna miss that plane."
Review by Sally Jane Black 2

The camera shakes and weaves, awkwardly bobs around people, leaving their faces lost, leaving their bodies distorted and unfocused, leaving everything indistinct. The lights are tints of blue and red and orange, filters like the Internet, cold even in their warmest moments, shadows and neon, dating this in the now. New York looks like New York anyway; you recognize it anywhere. Adapero Oduye tells more of the story through the way she holds her body, through the way her face fills the frame, through the way she pulls off her girlclothes as if they were toxic, through the way she flinches nervously from tender touch, through how she performs than the quivering camera or the natural dialogue. Through her, we…
Review by Lucy ★★★★½

"it's not a phase! there's nothing wrong with me!"
ugh. so good. so good.
Review by grace b-p ★★★★

Nah but cutting from an Audre Lorde quote to Khia's "My Neck, My Back" is modern womanism at its very best
Review by Sean Baker 7

Wanted to revisit this film because the first time I watched was on an awards screener DVD in 2011... not an ideal viewing experience.
Review by yanni ★★★★½

the black lesbian energy emanating from this film is so powerful... god tier queer cinema
Review by Vanessa ★★★★

"Heartbreak opens onto the sunrise for even breaking is opening and I am broken, I am open. Broken into the new life without pushing in, open to the possibilities within, pushing out. See the love shine in through my cracks? See the light shine out through me? I am broken, I am open, I am broken open. See the love light shining through me, shining through my cracks, through the gaps. My spirit takes journey, my spirit takes flight, could not have risen otherwise and I am not running, I am choosing. Running is not a choice from the breaking. Breaking is freeing, broken is freedom. I am not broken, I am free."
Review by Chris 🦑 ★★★★★ 1

me, sobbing throughout the last 20 minutes of the film: i just want alike to be happy and successful
Review by lauren ★★★★½ 3

when her sister told her that it doesn't matter to her......yeah...that's what my sister told me when i told her i was bi two days ago 🥺🥺
Review by Madison 🎭 ★★★★½

hello i'm considering getting 'I am not running, I am choosing' tattooed now! this is what i call lesbian film bitch!

Recent reviews

Review by natalie ★★★★★

amazing.
Review by giovanna ★★★★

"I am not running; I am choosing... I am not broken; I am free. "
dor
Review by Dani A. ★★★½

Amazing and heart-breaking performances, specially Adepero Oduye that plays Alike. The characters feel as real as people that I know irl. The story has an ending that leaves you hoping for a better future.
But the pacing of certain things on screen and the predictability of certain situations could have delevoped in a better way.
Nonetheless I really enjoyed this movie. Nice to have poc stories on the big screen for a change. Also the relationship dynamic between Alike and his dad made me feel so much for them.
Review by Ross Bonaime ★★★★

Dees Rees' narrative debut feature Pariah works so beautifully because of how Rees writes these characters. It would be too easy to present the parents of Alike (a fantastic Adepero Oduye) as villains, as they are terrified their daughter might be a lesbian, but Rees doesn't do that, because she knows coming out will be even tougher when the parents are flawed, yet likable. Alika's father Arthur (Charles Parnell) is a tough man with his own secrets, but the majority of times we actually see Alika comfortable in her own skin and smiling is with her father.
That's another beautiful choice that Rees makes, which is that we all have secrets that would alter how the people closest to us…
Review by MrMapleSyrupz ★★★½

82/100
B-
I love when a movie allows me to have a window into a world I couldn't even begin to imagine. Pariah is such a honest and caring film. I love that I can just feel the film makers love for all of these characters, even the ones who aren't acting ideally. The direction is really wonderful in this film and that first scene is stunning direction and editing wise. Will say that beginning scene did set the rest of the movie up a little for disappointment since that energy is never really captured again. I would've loved to keep seeing that contrast of energetic and subtle throughout the film. I thought the film was really well written never…
Review by Adam ★★★★★

Brilliantly written, directed and acted this little film also has some incredibly impressive lighting design and cinematography, just extraordinary to watch.
The film at first seems a bit like many other first love and or coming out films, but it’s got a cocky confidence that means it never once feels as banal as the genre often lends itself to failing into. That’s mostly the excellent pacing as the editing does a wonderful job of lingering with the emotions but moving with the rhythm of the story, it never really flags.
The characters are all well done but the parents are especially well crafted for relatively small but monumental roles, there’s a deep compassion and love for both of them in…
Review by clairedaze ★★★★★

a good fucking lesbian movie. that actually got me so good, the ending was so powerful😤
Review by Carter Haskins ★★★★

The Criterion Challenge 2021
Movie 19/52: 2010's
This is really great, I can't think of much that isn't phenomenally done here from the cinematography to the performances, story and screenplay etc.
I'd highly recommend this to anyone.
8/10
The full list: The Criterion Challenge 2021
The ranked list: The Criterion Challenge 2021 - Ranked
Review by SandySandals ★★★★½

Holy shit that’s heavy.
Review by sckanque ★★★★½

"oh nooooo"
me, every ten minutes of this movie

i just wanted a nice lesbian drama but now i'm depressed and angry at my parents
it's a heavy rough and sad 10/10
Review by serafine ★★★★½

“and i am not running, i am choosing”
my whole body can’t stop shaking. holy fuck
Review by Luiz Felipe Magrine ★★★

Grande sensibilidade em vários momentos, em outros um roteiro expositivo demais e uma edição que não colabora com a trama.
No entanto, o final é muito bom e para o público "não lgbtq+" é uma boa pedida.