Dee Rees’ breakthrough is a coming-of-age film about a young Black lesbian’s journey to self-acceptance.
The director recently became the first African American woman and queer woman of color to get a Criterion release.
The film is anchored by a stirring performance from Adepero Oduye as Alike, or “Lee,” a Black Brooklyn girl of 17 struggling to navigate her identity within the strictures of her religious and conservative parents.
Oduye radiates warmth, deepened by Bradford Young’s intimate camerawork and Rees’ delicate tone that maintains attention up to the film’s end.
Indie Cinema 2011: Films That Matter–Pariah
‘Pariah’ (2011)
Dee Rees’ breakthrough is a coming-of-age film about a young Black lesbian’s journey to self-acceptance.
The director recently became the first African American woman and queer woman of color to get a Criterion release.
The film is anchored by a stirring performance from Adepero Oduye as Alike, or “Lee,” a Black Brooklyn girl of 17 struggling to navigate her identity within the strictures of her religious and conservative parents.
Oduye radiates warmth, deepened by Bradford Young’s intimate camerawork and Rees’ delicate tone that maintains attention up to the film’s end.