Ailey

Name: Ailey
Genre: Documentary
Released: July 23, 2021
Duration: 82 min
Rating: 77
Cast: Alvin Ailey, George Faison, Judith Jamison

2021

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Generally favorable reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews

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Ailey

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Movie Details & Credits

Elevation Pictures | Release Date: July 23, 2021 | Not Rated

Starring: Alvin Ailey, George Faison, Judith Jamison

Summary: Alvin Ailey was a trailblazing pioneer who found salvation through dance. Ailey traces the full contours of this brilliant and enigmatic man whose search for the truth in movement resulted in enduring choreography that centers on the Black American experience with grace, strength, and unparalleled beauty. Told through Ailey’s own words andAlvin Ailey was a trailblazing pioneer who found salvation through dance. Ailey traces the full contours of this brilliant and enigmatic man whose search for the truth in movement resulted in enduring choreography that centers on the Black American experience with grace, strength, and unparalleled beauty. Told through Ailey’s own words and featuring evocative archival footage and interviews with those who intimately knew him, director Jamila Wignotweaves together a resonant biography of an elusive visionary.… Expand

Director: Jamila Wignot

Genre(s): Documentary

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 82 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Chris Vognar

Aug 6, 2021

Ailey weds forthright interviews and archival footage of abstract beauty with those sweeping dance sequences to conjure a haunting portrait of what it means to be an artist — from the triumphs to the empty, lonely feeling that you’re never as good as you’re supposed to be. Read full review

Gia Kourlas

Jul 22, 2021

Like Ailey’s dances, the documentary leaves you swimming in sensation. Read full review

John Anderson

Jan 6, 2022

[A] moving and poetic documentary portrait. Read full review

Annabel Aguiar

Aug 3, 2021

The film brings a more human understanding of a figure so noteworthy he has earned mononym status for the title. Though we only see him in still images and old performance videos in Ailey, he seems much closer. Read full review

Josiah Teal

Jun 20, 2021

For me, the relevance outweighs my enjoyment of Ailey, but this relevance bears a massive weight. Alvin Ailey has a fantastic story, but this might be a narrative that lends itself more to a bio-pic than a detail-oriented documentary. Read full review

Owen Gleiberman

Jun 20, 2021

Ailey, directed by Jamila Wignot, doesn’t always answer the questions you expect it to. It can be a tantalizing watch, but it’s a poetic and meditative documentary that often skimps on the nuts and bolts. Read full review

Jake Cole

Jul 19, 2021

Not even Alvin Ailey’s peers can articulate the innovations and soulfulness of his choreography half as well as his work itself. Read full review

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