At the center of the drama is Nicole Beharie, who inhabits her role as a woman unjustly maligned with intelligence, conviction and regal sense of pride.

| Feb 3, 2018

It's beautifully told, passionate and sensitive to the true story and the victims that lived it.

| Original Score: A | Sep 12, 2017

Less a social-problem film than a drama of personal courage.

| Aug 18, 2011

While it may be about as subtle as a swinging sledgehammer, it does leave its mark.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 15, 2009

Nicole. Beharie. Remember the name, for if her stunning lead turn is any indication, huge things are in the future.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 31, 2009

[American Violet] is so compelling and intriguing that it's easy for the audience to forget they're being preached to.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 30, 2009

Put on your outrage cap.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 17, 2009

It does almost everything well, from the direction to the performances. But it does nothing great, dragged down by an uninspired, and oddly uninspiring, script.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 17, 2009

Newcomer Beharie gives a polished performance that deserves awards consideration.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 16, 2009

It's not enough for a movie to have a Black cast for it to be good, it must have good writing, engaging stories and impassioned actors. This film has all three.

| Original Score: A | Jun 10, 2009

A well-played if too-familiar story of oppression and injustice.

| Original Score: C+ | May 15, 2009

A conventional but wholly gripping docudrama.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | May 1, 2009

American Violet is an earnest muckraker about the justice system that won't win points for style, but wins plenty for substance.

Full Review | Original Score: B | May 1, 2009

A torn-from-the-headlines tale of institutional racism and injustice in the Lone Star State of not-so-long-ago, American Violet might not be subtle, but it's certainly powerful.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 1, 2009

Director Tim Disney and screenwriter Bill Haney lay out Dee's story with a minimum of fuss. They are smart enough to realize that the material is compelling all on its own.

| Original Score: B+ | May 1, 2009

American Violet dramatizes Kelly's case, and does so in a way that will leave audiences applauding in their seats -- and wondering how much of the film is true.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 1, 2009

American Violet feels less like life and unreasonably more like the movies.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 30, 2009

Movingly told and packed with powerful subject matter.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 30, 2009

Thematically, there's a lot to like here, but the execution couldn't be more heavy-handed and two-dimensional.

| Apr 21, 2009

...a well acted piece and a scary indictment of the American penal system.

| Original Score: B- | Apr 20, 2009