Rolling on along with our independent movie day comes another film in (very) limited release. It’s called Pariah and is the story of a young black lesbian struggling to find love in Brooklyn even though her very religious mother (played by Kim Wayans in a dramatic role) doesn’t approve at all.
What Works: Kim Wayans gives the stock character of “Overbearing religious mother” a vulnerable streak that makes the character probably more sympathetic than she might really be. You get the sense that she’s as upset with changes in her own marriage (it’s heavily implied her husband is cheating on her) as she is with changes in her daughter, and just wants everything to go back to a happier time, and that’s very easy to understand. Charles Parnell, as the sneaky husband but more sympathetic father, is also terrific as someone who’s trying not to see his daughter’s changes so he can continue to love her just as much. And the ending is a knockout, the homeless guy in front of me was crying his eyes out.
What Doesn’t Work: This is a very small movie, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend taking a plane to New York or Los Angeles to see it, and at times it feels a little claustrophobic as we’re trapped in Alike’s point of view of miserable, closeted daughter. I didn’t find her circumstances as dire as that of, say, Precious, and didn’t find her to be likable at all times, but I guess that just makes it more real. Still, I have to say I admired this movie more than I enjoyed it, and for a movie that is less than 85 minutes it feels a little long.
What I Would Have Done Differently: I can’t take the usual way out and say “Cut ten minutes here and there” because there aren’t ten minutes to cut in this 84 minute long movie. I think instead I would have shown different footage and tried to develop interesting characters more (like the girl’s parents) and characters that are maybe less interesting a little less (Alike’s friends and her various crushes).