Review of Pariah (2011) by Teddy V — 26 Apr 2012

"Pulsing with authenticity," says the review, but where exactly was it? I think people tend to be impressed by things they think are happening but that they don't see because of the walls they construct around themselves, or the boundaries they hide behind.

Just because someone makes a film about something that is a little different and perhaps hard for certain segments of society to "come to terms with" doesn't mean that that film is well made.

Just because there are young black lesbians in the world doesn't mean that a film about them is authentic. This film suffers from a serious lack of character development, a plot that is unsurpassed in its blatant, rampant, extraordinarily transparent predictability, and basically just a story that relies on the shock value of "in-your-face" sexuality (while not being all that sexual.

..) with little or no real substance to back it up. Perhaps the fact that this film is based upon the director's own life situation pushes it toward the unknowable, like a (bad) poem about the one person the poet knows all too well, full of inside jokes, personal experiences under-explained, and situation you have to be a part of to really connect with.

Ultimately, it tries really hard to be personal, and completely fails to make you a part of its pseudo-innocence and uncomplicated, shallow depth.