Paris Is Burning
critic Reviews
, 98% Certified Fresh Tomatometer Score- Paris Is Burning dives into '80s transgender subculture, with the understated camera allowing this world to flourish and the people to speak (and dance) for themselves.
- , Fresh Tomatometer ScoreChristine DolenMiami Herald
It is strong, sardonically funny, sometimes shattering stuff.
Read full article - , Fresh Tomatometer ScoreGeoff BrownTimes (UK)
Half sad, half exuberant.
Read full article - , Fresh Tomatometer ScoreGene SiskelChicago Tribune
The earnestness of the competition is what holds this film together.
Read full article - , Fresh Tomatometer ScoreVincent CanbyNew York Times
There is a lot of common sense and natural wit behind the role-playing. Yet there is also a terrible sadness in the testimony.
Read full article - , Fresh Tomatometer ScoreKenneth TuranLos Angeles Times
[The film intercuts] ball scenes with interviews with the participants in less hectic, more reflective moments. It is those personal, humanizing moments, much more than the hectic, eye-catching hubbub of performance, that truly linger in the mind.
Read full article - , Fresh Tomatometer ScoreLouise GraySight & Sound
If the wit, glamour and mind-boggling outfits of Paris Is Burning are disarming, not far beneath the film's surface is an immensely moving quality.
Read full article - , Fresh Tomatometer ScoreElizabeth C. DonahoeWashington Blade
In this gritty but celebratory documentary produced and directed by Lesbian filmmaker Jennie Livingston, it is not the fashions but the characters that stay with the viewer.
Read full article - , Fresh Tomatometer ScoreNick LevineNME
Jennie Livingston's seminal documentary film shines a spotlight on New York City's ball culture, a place where African-American and Latino LGBTQ people could live out their high-glamour fantasies.
Read full article - , Fresh Tomatometer ScoreDavid HarrisSpectrum Culture
Paris is Burning is still an important film 30 years after its release - a snapshot of a specific time and place that humanizes its subjects and allows those of us in a place of privilege to understand them better.
Read full article - , Fresh Tomatometer ScoreDavid LambleBay Area Reporter
A scintillating example of how art can serve life without compromising its objective of adding meaning to our journey.
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