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The path to living as one’s authentic self is paved with trials and tribulations in this revelatory, assured feature debut by Dee Rees—the all-too-rare coming-of-age tale to honestly represent the experiences of queer Black women. Grounded in the fine-grained specificity and deft characterizations of Rees’s script and built around a beautifully layered performance from Adepero Oduye, Pariah follows Brooklyn teenager Alike, who is dealing with the emotional minefields of both first love and heartache and the disapproval of her family as she navigates the expression of her gender and sexual identities within a system that does not make space for them. Achieving an aching intimacy with its subject through the expressive cinematography of Bradford Young, this deeply felt portrait finds strength in vulnerability and liberation in letting go.
Kim Wayans, Adepero Oduye, Aasha Davis and Charles Parnell star in Dee Rees`s inspiring film that critics hail is "Vibrantly alive! Potently moving and heartfelt!" (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone). Seventeen-year-old Alike (pronounced ah-lee-kay) lives with her parents and younger sister in Brooklyn`s Fort Greene neighborhood. She has a flair for poetry, and is quietly embracing her identity as a lesbian. But whenever Alike`s development becomes a topic of discussion at home, her parents` already strained marriage is pushed to the breaking point. Wondering how much she can confide in her family, Alike strives to get through adolescence with grace, humor, and tenacity - sometimes succeeding, sometimes not, but always moving forward.
Adepero Oduye