[Director Dee] Rees has crafted an indelible coming-of-age portrait of a teen lesbian and poet that’s by turns funny and awkward, painful and triumphant.

| Jul 29, 2024

It is emotionally genuine, populated by believable characters, and driven by dialogue and music that is honest to its characters and their issues.

| May 9, 2023

Rees, using her own background as a template, constructs the story of discovery and embracement while aware of the social constructs that prevent it from being a more open, accepting experience.

| Feb 28, 2023

A sensitive coming-of-age tale guided by a career-making lead performance, Pariah is essential viewing.

| Sep 26, 2022

Pariah doesn't strain towards unnecessary drama, finding a sweet spot of unvarnished verisimilitude.

| Original Score: 4 | Aug 1, 2021

This is a movie that will doubtless speak to those who have endured similar hardships in their youth, and Rees' message seems to be that, as Dan Savage would say, it gets better.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 3, 2021

The acting and directing create a winning combination for unlocking the most powerful tool in social change: empathy.

| Jun 11, 2021

It has the depth and warmth that you'd expect to see from larger-budget productions...

| May 24, 2021

It's a breath of fresh air, and for a good deal of its running time, it's also a thoroughly effective piece of drama...

| Mar 22, 2021

Pariah was honed over seven years...and the film that results is a stunning achievement.

| Jan 29, 2021

To me, a film that engenders that sort of hope and possibility is worth gas money, an $8 ticket, and a trip to the concession stand.

| Jan 12, 2021

Pariah is the sort of high quality, under the radar film that seems to always escape the attention of the Oscars.

| Original Score: 3.5/4.0 | Sep 19, 2020

Adepero Oduye is so tender and sincere with her performance ... she breathes and lives her character with an element of truth.

| Original Score: B | Aug 4, 2020

The tone is tragicomic, the genre is coming-of-age, and the execution is impeccable.

| Feb 28, 2020

...Pariah maintains a very lyrical flow built upon good storytelling and filled with magnificent performances that soar.

| Nov 26, 2019

Directed by Dee Rees a Brooklyn teenager juggles conflicting identities and risks friendship, heartbreak, and family in a desperate search for sexual expression.

| Sep 15, 2019

This is one of the most raw and powerful depictions of budding teenage sexuality I've ever seen, told universal resonance and emotional appeal.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 6, 2019

It's that nuanced treatment of an often-sensationalized subject that makes Pariah such an impressive debut.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 4, 2019

Pariah is a fine debut---it's all been done, but rarely with performances this raw and real.

| Nov 16, 2018

"Pariah" is a beautiful, sensitive debut, described by the cinematographer, Bradford Young as "a world and a film colored with glitter and pain."

| Oct 24, 2018