They don’t get much more groundbreaking than Cheryl Dunye’s landmark of queer cinema.

| Jun 21, 2023

It gives us something we don't see much of in film -- young black women claiming their space and sharing it with the rest of us.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 22, 2022

The Watermelon Woman is quite smart, remarkably sophisticated filmmaking for a first-time director.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jan 22, 2022

Sadly, it intrigues only through its inventive manipulation of documentary techniques -- which is to say that what the form promises, the content falls far short of delivering.

| Jan 22, 2022

It also turns out to be quite likeable, helped by a disarming refusal to take itself or its milieu too seriously.

| Jan 22, 2022

Dunye's salvation is her sense of humor. She's good at creating light, bantering dialogue, and there are a couple of sharp, satirical scenes.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 22, 2022

[It] has the poignancy of a history retrieved from obscurity, reflecting new light on the past and the present. And even if the history here isn't real, the emotions it triggers - and its sly musings about racial and sexual identity - most definitely are.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 22, 2022

At its best, The Watermelon Woman is fresh and funny about love and friendship, with something serious to say about racism and changing racial conflicts through, the eras. But the movie doesn't have enough to be about.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 22, 2022

A sweet, sassy mockumentary.

| Jan 22, 2022

Ingenious and amusing.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 22, 2022

[The film] becomes a touching essay on the importance of remembrance and tradition to minorities who are often denied them.

| Jan 22, 2022

[Dunye] deals with her high-flying themes (sexuality, race, history) with a deft, low-budget touch.

| Jan 22, 2022

This is a ragbag of a movie, but a very friendly one, bursting with fun and good ideas.

| Jan 22, 2022

A lighthearted and for the most part lightweight pseudodocumentar.

| Jan 22, 2022

Cheryl Dunye's affecting and good-humored video film about a search for love, history and a sense of self pivots on her protagonist's identification with a (totally fictitious) '30s actress.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 22, 2022

In creating a rich, complex film about the processes of filmmaking and the interstices of identity, Dunye's The Watermelon Woman gets at the risk and reward involved in creating one's own history, which so often melds truth with fiction.

| Jan 11, 2021

Funny and smart, full of biting humor and astute observations about identity and history, Cheryl Dunye's audacious, joyous debut feature captures the process of falling hopelessly in love with the movies.

| Nov 9, 2016

It's a film of such multitudinous interests and storytelling pursuits that its unfolding replicates the ecstasy of newfound romance.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Nov 7, 2016

A witty exploration of black American culture, past and present.

| Jan 26, 2006

[It] walks a fine line between serious intellectual inquiry and outright spoof. That it succeeds in being both stimulating and funny is a testament to the talent and open-heartedness of Ms. Dunye, who wrote and directed the movie and is its star.

| May 20, 2003