"Pariah" is definitely a film that deserves more appreciation than it has received. The film is a coming of age tale of an African American teen girl named Alike (played by Adepero Oduye) who is struggling with her sexual identity as a lesbian. Alike has conflict with her parents, a religious and controlling mother (Kim Wayans) and a doting father (Charles Parnell) who can't believe his little girl might be a lesbian. She attempts to find herself by exploring meeting girls at underground clubs with friend Laura (Pernell Walker) and later through a confusing friendship with Bina (Aasha Davis).
I felt that this film was well-acted particulalry by Oduye and Wayans. I couldn't believe that Kim Wayans of "In Living Color" fame was really effective in this role as Alike's overbearing, religious mother who wants to make her daughter more feminine. The struggle between Alike's parents was a strong point of the film as they fought over "what to do about her" and the mother feeling that the father just needed to talk to his daughter. Rather than just focus on Alike, the film had a more balanced feel by showing her parents struggle with Alike's sexual identity as she was obviously struggling to establish herself.
The main drawback on this film that I see is that the cinematography was not as smooth as it could have been. A bit jerky at times but not enough that it should distract the viewer. Overall it's good storytelling and solid acting - I give it a B+.
Loved it. Gem of a movie.
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