There’s never been a shortage of movies that talk about how much it sucks being a teenager and there’s no shortage of films dealing with what’s its like if that particular teenager doesn’t happen to be white and privileged. A film like Pariah, from director Dee Rees, could become preachy and top heavy in the wrong hands. This powerful film about a young black woman growing up gay in Brooklyn gives the audience something they haven’t seen before: a real life drama that mostly presents things in a believable way without ever lurching dangerously into melodrama or dumbing down the complex emotions that need to drive the story.
Developed from her own short film of the same name, Rees tells the story of Alike (Adpero Oduye), also returning from the original short), a confident by shy 17 year old girl who firmly identifies as a lesbian and the problems in life and love that she goes through as a result. The marriage of her overbearing mother (Kim Wayans) and her constantly in denial father (Pernell Walker) has reached the breaking point almost as a direct result of Alike’s sexuality. Alike searches for a steady girlfriend and tries to construct her own definition of what love truly is.
Rees, a former understudy of Spike Lee (who gets a producer credit here), directs with an assured hand and has a keen eye for shot composition. Many filmmakers mistake the use of colours and filters as overbearing and obviously symbolic choices, but Rees uses a lot of sparse, natural lighting that’s actually appropriate for her locations. The film possesses a tone that is simultaneously gritty and utterly recognizable and realistic.
The film boasts nuanced performances from Oduye, Walker, and Aasha Davis as Alike’s best friend, but the movie belongs to Wayans who steals every scene she’s in as a woman who has driven herself to complete paranoia and mistrust towards everyone around her. While everyone around her is putting their lives in order, Wayans plays a woman who is unconsciously tearing down everything she had built up out of confusion and fear of the unquantifiable.
Rees semi-autobiographical script does stumble somewhat in trying to balance out Alike’s woes at home with her personal yearnings, and the main character’s vacillation between being a club kid and a homebody feels forced and underbaked (especially since it would contribute even more to the main character’s feelings of alienation and confusion), but despite this Pariah rises above what could have been unsubtle awards bait material or a lacklustre movie of the week. It gets the discussion about sexuality out of the way early in a tasteful and thoughtful way so that the audience can appreciate how the characters live out their lives. It sounds like easy work, but it’s surprising how few films actually pull that off.
Rating: 
Rated 14A
Cast: Adepero Oduye, Pernell Walker, Kim Wayans
Directed by: Dee Rees
Top image: A scene from Pariah. Courtesy Alliance Films.
