Critics Consensus

Pulsing with authenticity and led by a stirring lead performance from Adepero Oduye, Pariah is a powerful coming out/coming-of-age film that signals the arrival of a fresh new talent in writer/director Dee Rees.

Synopsis

Brooklyn teen Alike (Adepero Oduye) is a model child around her devoutly religious family, but she sheds the good-girl image to reveal a harder side during a nightclub excursion with butch pal Laura (Pernell Walker) in this coming-of-age tale of urban identity and sexual expression. With curfew looming and her parents none the wiser, Alike must catch the bus back home, where she faces the complex negotiation of her contradictory worlds.