Pariah
Director: Dee Rees
Year Released: 2011
Rating: 1.5
The heart is in the right place, but unfortunately not much else is. Gay teen Alike (Adepero Oduye) tries to hide her big secret from her parents, while sneaking out with her lesbian friends to go to clubs and experiment sexually. Though it's "important," I suppose, as a tale about the struggles of being a female and a homosexual and an African-American, it relies too strongly on darkened rooms and ambient music to convey its internal sense of sorrow, and it brings out the one-dimensional bigots (Mom especially) for much needed external tension. Andrew Haigh's Weekend, also from 2011, had the right idea about the nuances and difficulties in the LGBT community; this is little more than an after-school special (it all but screams "Believe In Yourself!").
