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Critic Reviews

The gay coming-of-age story's been done, but "Pariah" has something fresh to say, largely about the knotty complexities of love, and how they might keep someone in the closet: How badly do you need to be free, to hurt the people you love?

-John AndersonFull Review

Rees brings a heartfelt connection to the material, based on her own coming-out story, but the film's ingredients aren't the freshest.

-Colin CovertFull Review

You don't have to be black or lesbian or even know someone who's gay to appreciate "Pariah"; you just have to have gone through or be going through the process of growing up.

-Tom LongFull Review

If the destination is trite, the journey isn't - it comes with an ample supply of raw honesty.

-Rick GroenFull Review

Rees tells Alike's story in vignettes that are sometimes slapstick, sometimes heartbreaking, always tender.

-Carrie RickeyFull Review

Especially rewarding about Oduye's performance is how she's able to portray that frustration while retaining hope and optimism.

-Bill GoodykoontzFull Review

Rees' script, peppered with colourful hip-hop argot, is smart and economical, with well-drawn characters, dialogue and situations that echo with authenticity.

-Bruce DemaraFull Review

"Pariah" feels a lot like life, at its most confusing, contradictory and exhilarating.

-Ann HornadayFull Review

Adepero Oduye is excellent as a Brooklyn teen coming to terms with her sexual identity in this gritty film

-Chris VognarFull Review

The originality lies in the details, and the dramatic energy that sustains almost every scene.

-Joe MorgensternFull Review

An eloquent, haunting coming-of-age/ coming-out tale...

-Moira MacDonaldFull Review

"Pariah'' really feels like something rare.

-Wesley MorrisFull Review

Rees packs a lot into a simple narrative, and only rarely overpacks.

-Michael PhillipsFull Review

The film is an impressive debut for writer-director Dee Rees.

-Roger EbertFull Review

Pariah is a tender, sporadically goofy, yet candid examination of emergent identity.

-Ella TaylorFull Review

In her fearless, world-here-I-am! debut Pariah, writer-director Dee Rees demonstrates, with simplicity and verve, that there's no substitute for authenticity.

-Lisa SchwarzbaumFull Review

The filmmaking is often wayward, the scenes of confrontation sometimes too stagey, but Oduye is a marvelous young actress with a camera-ready face brimming with soulfulness.

-Peter RainerFull Review

The movie's point, which is impossible to miss, is that it's hard being black & gay in America and, while there's undoubtedly truth in that sentiment, it doesn't necessarily make for a compelling motion picture circa 2011.

-James BerardinelliFull Review

The coming-out/coming-of-age story is almost a genre of its own, but Pariah has a fresh and distinctly urban take, anchored by an affable lead performance.

-Full Review

Something so honest and touching that you're instantly drawn in to its feelings and sense of place.

-Joe NeumaierFull Review

The gifted Dee Rees makes finding out a stirring and heartfelt journey. And Adepero Oduye is unforgettable. A star is born.

-Peter TraversFull Review

Pariah should be a special, important film for gay teens and their parents.

-Mary F. PolsFull Review

This is a look at the joy, confusion and heartbreak of adolescence that's both culture- and locale-specific and, at the same time, universal.

-Lou LumenickFull Review

The message - that prejudice exists in every community - is one worth listening to.

-Stephen WhittyFull Review

The film benefits most of all from Rees' careful screenplay, which dances that shifting line between fear and emergent hope. One of Alike's poems says it best: "Even breaking is opening. And I am broken. I am open."

-Amy BiancolliFull Review

Oduye as Alike is "Pariah's" subtle center, with the actress moving seamlessly between the tomboy thrilled to play hoops with her dad to the sour-faced daughter forced to wear pink by her mom.

-Betsy SharkeyFull Review

At its heart is an incandescent performance by Ms. Oduye, who captures the jagged mood swings of late adolescence with a wonderfully spontaneous fluency.

-Stephen HoldenFull Review

Funny, moving, nuanced, and impeccably acted...

-Melissa AndersonFull Review

Pariah plays like a longer, more complex addendum to the recent It Gets Better campaign aimed at sending messages of survival and strength to gay and lesbian teens...

-James RocchiFull Review


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