Brown is in for the observational long-haul rather than quick indictments, capturing the minor insidious gaffes as intrinsic to perpetuating systemic racism as more flagrant demonstrations of same.

| Jan 24, 2023

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 17, 2011

Mobile and its still-segregated Mardi Gras tradition seem to be world unto themselves, presented without reference to the wider world's pressing issues--the failing economy, environmental concerns, war in Iraq. The documentary's impressive compilation of

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 3, 2009

Reveals ceremonies that are exotic, unexpected, colorful and incredibly ritualized, layered with vast amounts of denial, submerged agendas and hypocrisy.

| Original Score: A | Feb 11, 2009

Separate but equal is alive and well in America; see how it works at Mardi Gras in Mobile

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jan 20, 2009

A good time is had by all even in light of public displays of racial segregation in the Mobile, Alabama's Mardi Gras celebration.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Jan 19, 2009

An informative behind-the-scenes look at America's oldest Mardi Gras.

| Original Score: B | Dec 5, 2008

[An] affectingly insightful and well-informed documentary. Myths taps into a special kind of Southern tradition%u2014with underlying racial overtones as a societal hovering factor.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 4, 2008

A revealing anthropological portrait and reminder of American places where young people grow up surrounded by tradition, both positive and negative, and stay to carry it on.

| Original Score: 10/10 | Dec 3, 2008

A well-constructed documentary about a surprising remnant of segregation in the new South, The Order of Myths gracefully explores Mobile's Mardi Gras celebrations and profiles the young people playing at royalty at these ceremonies' hearts.

Full Review | Nov 7, 2008

Trapped under the weight of hundreds of years of racial animosity and mistrust, with few clues as to how to work themselves free, the celebrants of the oldest Mardi Gras in the country take refuge in their traditions.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 24, 2008

[A] beautifully restrained, intelligent documentary about how complicated race relations can be in the modern South.

| Oct 24, 2008

An invaluable portrait of us-and-them America, a smart, generous, poignant, quietly disturbing movie about secrecy and hospitality.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 18, 2008

Entertaining and provocative.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Oct 18, 2008

Brown presents a complex, provocative view ...

Full Review | Aug 8, 2008

Less a vitriolic critique than a considerate, despairing depiction of the intractable sway exerted by long-held, unpleasant traditions.

| Jul 27, 2008

On both sides of the Mobile Mardi Gras divide, people seem to be edging toward a desire for reconciliation, but there remain significant differences about what that might entail.

| Jul 25, 2008

Ostensibly about Mobile, Alabama's annual Mardi Gras tradition, which dates back to 1703, Margaret Brown's documentary is actually an examination of the racial divide in a city that claims there is none.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 25, 2008

The cast of characters trailed by the crew is a compelling batch.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 25, 2008

Engrossing if discomfiting.

| Jul 25, 2008