Thanks to Rita Coburn Whack and Bob Hercules, we will forever have an archive of the deep, beautiful tones that could only inhabit Maya Angelou

| Jul 25, 2024

A lovely portrait of who Angelou was behind closed doors.

| Jun 9, 2020

Dr Angelou is such a charismatic and awe-inspiring character, her life so rich, so exciting, so monumental, the camera merely needs to be facing her way to be captivating.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 1, 2019

It's easy to fall into thinking of the late Maya Angelou as something of a national grandmother when she was so much more than that. Thankfully, Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise, is here to correct that misconception.

| Sep 26, 2017

The subject Maya Angelou, this intelligent, insightful artist, speaks for itself. My Life as a Film pursues a provocative question.

| Aug 28, 2017

Through interviews, archival footage, and her written words, Dr. Maya Angelou effectively tells her own story in this film.

Full Review | Apr 12, 2017

And Still I Rise is a portrait of an artist who was well aware of the spell she could cast with that voice, that towering height, that gaze. It is also a film mindful of the deep truths -- the desires and wounds -- buttressing that persona.

| Apr 6, 2017

And Still I Rise mostly soars, though, on the wings of Maya Angelou's own words and recollections. She lived a multifaceted life for the ages, overcoming a wealth of indignities while also rising above her own considerable faults and frailties.

| Original Score: A- | Feb 22, 2017

Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise takes a conventional cradle-to-grave approach to its subject, but it succeeds as a vivid and moving portrait of an African-American icon.

| Original Score: A- | Feb 21, 2017

Too intent to cement her as an idol, And Still I Rise just won't let stories tell the whole picture.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 17, 2017

Powerful accomplishment, capturing in under two hours a comprehensive sense of the work the poet, author and activist made, and the life she lived fully in her eighty-six years.

| Nov 10, 2016

The large amount of original interview footage, with the woman herself as insightful as ever, will delight her fans, and anybody unfamiliar with her work will find this a fascinating place to start.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Oct 28, 2016

Angelou herself is the star, one who is more riveting and original sitting in a chair, reciting the story of her life, than this -- or most, really -- documentary could ever hope to be on its own.

| Original Score: B- | Oct 24, 2016

An extraordinary portrait of the soulful and versatile African-American icon.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 14, 2016

It's hard not to be inspired by a life this well lived.

| Oct 13, 2016

If this adulatory "American Masters" production elides certain chapters of Angelou's biography, it nonetheless offers ample evidence of her commanding intensity and of her importance as an unwavering voice of the black experience.

| Oct 13, 2016

Angelou's epic journey - from a mute girl in segregated Arkansas to an icon of civil rights, literature and entertainment - could easily be a 10-part miniseries.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 12, 2016

A poignant portrait of a sex abuse survivor's unlikely path from abandoned street urchin to consummate poet laureate!

| Original Score: 4/4 | Oct 9, 2016

More in-depth history report than a piece of art, Maya Angelou and Still I Rise is a collection of fascinating information without style.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Sep 16, 2016

As this spirited documentary shows, the rise of poet, author, and activist Maya Angelou was anything but meteoric.

| Sep 15, 2016