Popular reviews

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  Review by Robert Daniels ★★★★

  One of those films that’s so rich, so eloquently rendered, you know you’ll be watching it a million times until your heart unbearably overflows.

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  Review by Sally Jane Black

  We should all dress so brightly in our daily lives. I used to wear rainbows more often; I tend toward solid jewel tones these days. We all deserve to wear rainbows.

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  Review by theironcupcake ★★★★★ 10

  "Always remember: do the best you can with what you got, and that way you don't owe anybody explanation or apology, you hear me?"

  Women Film Editors #161: Lillian Benson

  Earlier today I saw a news item from The Hollywood Reporter, citing a podcast interview with Tom Brady in which he recalled the Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake incident from Super Bowl 2004: "I think, in the end, it was probably a good thing for the NFL because everyone got to talk about it, and it was just more publicity and more publicity for halftime shows." It's one of the more tone deaf articles I've read lately, as his recollection seems to bear no awareness of Jackson (and her body) becoming a…

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  Review by Angelica Jade Bastién🪼🩵

  Beautiful portraiture of a young black girl and the black women that have imprinted on her — such precise characterization. A yearning, delicate, moving work.

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  Review by Marya E. Gates ★★★★½

  "I felt that, and still feel that Black culture gets put in these boxes. When you live long enough you see patterns, and at that time what was considered authentic Black culture was sort of Black male testosterone and a kind of pathology that got mapped onto Black people in Black culture. I have always pushed against that, particularly when I didn't feel that it was authentic. For me, it moved into an area of being almost pornographic in terms of poverty and violence. Much of my work pushes against that and talks about other things. This idea that Black people can only be one thing at a particular time is insulting, it's offensive, it's short sighted, it's not historically accurate. The money people, that's what they were interested in, and there was just no interest in other ways of looking at life."

  [Read my full interview with writer-director Ayoka Chenzira at RogerEbert.com]

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  Review by single white femalien ★★★★

  honestly wow this is a undersung classic in teh canon of 90s woman movies...

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  Review by JulesLarson ★★★★½

  Had Ayoka Chenzira, most of the crew and performers, Milestone and Kino distro in the house for its premiere 35mm restoration at BAM's Cinema Fest - which looks absolutely rich and new york from sound to brick and gloss varnish. Gray did an amazing job with this just like his work in Losing Ground. The costumes pop to an unbelievable degree. Helps that the movie is hilarious and so arrhythmic in narrative with a wonderfully opposing score that thumps and slides on-beat. Solid coming of age story with cuts from surreal to plain, unconventional to be filmed conversations in a Black family. The audience adored it. I was literally sitting next to Chenzira a row back and tried so hard to stay chill. Look for it when they make a hardcopy!

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  Review by Mitchell Beaupre ★★★★

  Beautiful, soul-enriching work. Just such a lived-in world that Ayoka Chenzira builds here, informed from her own experience as well as a deep knowledge of film and how to bring the audience into these characters’ lives. Almost immediately we’re brought so wholly into this world. Love the emphasis on music and dance and the place that plays in our lives, along with these battling ideas of ambition — how we have to give up some of ours when presented with the restrictive realities of the world, or how we continue to push against those restrictions to try and live our best lives, whatever those may be.

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  Review by CityGirl ★★★★

  Generational family dramedy. Growing up, teenage hood, girlhood and womanhood. Skipping school and prioritising street dancing ambitions while quietly rebelling against your mother. Having interest in boys and not knowing how to act on it while being lectured by your caring but at times overbearing and careful mom.

  Ruby - semi-famous, loud, a bit cuckoo, delusional, washed up, with grande illusions in her head. While Alma has said goodbye to her dancing dreams, prioritising stability and trying to be level-headed and realistic as possible. With the daughter more fancying and feeling kindred to her aunt, by shared artistic ideas and inspirations.

  Full of joy and growing pains. So rich, full of colour and life. Infused with great, 3 central performances.…

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  Review by sabsab ★★★½

  two things i wasn’t expecting:
  1. for the dialogue to be quite witty and charming
  2. for the costume design to be STUNNING! (one of the minor characters wears this pretty white dress, with arabic words in the color gold all over it. reminded me of a جلابية or مخور, so i found that was immensely fun) 

  gorgeous, heart warming and quite sensual film. explosive with style. i’m basic af so i love a good coming of age film, especially one centering mother / daughter relationships. super duper cute, no notes! (side note: i didn’t know alma’s rainbow shared the same cinematographer as losing ground. makes a lot of sense. both films are visually beautiful.)

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  Review by Brandon Streussnig

  Oh wow, I adored this. What a gorgeous, deeply felt, hilarious portrait. Something about independent cinema of the 90s, particularly that early move, that feels more alive than anything before or since. This is among the very best. Moved me beyond words.

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  Review by Justin LaLiberty ★★★★

  a gorgeously, colorfully, realized document of a time, place and people in early 90s Brooklyn -- simultaneously cheerful and mournful with every single actor feeling like they live in each frame; one of the all time great attempts at virginity loss: "when is life going to be perfect?"