dvd of the week
That Focus Features, the distribution company that puts out such highbrow star-vehicles like Brokeback Mountain and Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy, would get behind a gritty first feature with virtually unknown actors and a lengthy scene about a strap-on dildo is testament to how affecting Pariah is. Alike (Adepero Oduye), the teenage lesbian hero, has the self-possession of the smartest and coolest girl in school. She is nervous about finding a girlfriend and playing into the butch-femme role-playing that seems to govern the lesbian culture she and her best friend hang out in. But her bravery, not only in her poetry but in her willingness to give up her family and her world for freedom, is inspiring. Wonderfully acted and brilliantly written and directed by Dee Rees, it is among the best lesbian movies ever made.
