Photo Credit: Indiewire

Pariah is an excellent, mostly well-made film. The film follows a teenage lesbian trying to develop sexually and emotionally in an environment that despises gays and a troubled home. The film’s main strengths lay with its characters, the story, and the cinematography.

The character of Alike played by Adepero Oduye is well-written, likable, and creative. She is shown to be a poet and the poems she gives to her class and teacher are not only relevant to the story, but also are very emotional. She has great chemistry with everyone she’s on camera with and her scenes with her father and Bina are some of the best in the movie.

The dad, Arthur, (played by Charles Parnell), is my favorite character in the movie. He has this dry “don’t give a shit” mood that I just find really funny. He seems to know about Alike’s homosexuality from my interpretation of their scenes, but he just wants her to be safe about it. It’s heavily implied that he’s having an affair, but considering his wife I don’t blame him.

The mom character is a religious fundamentalist who tries to control the lives of her daughters. She doesn’t like Alike’s friend Lauren, so she forces her to be friends with her church-going friend’s daughter Bina. Little does she know,  this  allows Alike to have sex for the first time. The scenes at the end with Bina after she reveals her sexuality are soul-rending. She essentially declares that she hates her daughter for being gay. When given good news about Alike’s future and when Alike goes for closure and acceptance, her mother merely says, “I’ll keep you in my prayers.”

The editing seemed a little abrupt to me. A scene wouldn’t end, it would merely stop. There aren’t any fades or dissolves, just a solid cut after the dialog ends and then the next scene, especially when we’re in a darkly lit scene and it cuts to the bright outside. It’s a slight strain on the eyes. However, all is forgiven with the excellent lighting and cinematography. Bradford Young, who was the cinematographer for this movie, deserves all the praise he gets. The lighting in each scene is sublime. He knows how to use shadows, he knows how to use colors, and he knows how to let light in at just the right moment. There are three scenes that stand out the most to me. The first is when Alike tells Laura that she’s serious about Bina. It’s almost completely dark, save for a gold outline on everyone’s bodies. The next is after Bina reveals that the sex was just playing around for her and when Alike runs home and trashes her room. It’s almost complete darkness, but she tears down the blinds and a light blue shines in on the room and around Alike as she sleeps. The last is near the end of the film when her father goes to see her in the room. It’s filmed in the magic hour and the gold light perfectly lights the scene. Everything I mentioned just looks amazing and they’ve been etched into my mind as nothing less than incredible.

I highly recommend the film to people. The story is heartbreaking, but also uplifting. It shows how her life at home has been destroyed, but she has accepted herself and is ready to go and try and make herself better. To quote Tyrion Lannister, “Never forget what you are. The rest of the world will not. Wear it like armor, and it can never be used to hurt you.”