Alvin Ailey was a visionary artist who found salvation through dance. An immersive portrait told in his own words and through the creation of a new commission inspired by his life, Ailey fully profiles this brilliant and enigmatic man who-when confronted by a world that refused to embrace him-was determined to build one that would.... (Full plot summary below)
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Alvin Ailey was a visionary artist who found salvation through dance. An immersive portrait told in his own words and through the creation of a new commission inspired by his life, Ailey fully profiles this brilliant and enigmatic man who-when confronted by a world that refused to embrace him-was determined to build one that would.
Leave your thoughts about Ailey.
| San Francisco ChronicleChris VognarAiley 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. |
| ObserverOliver JonesFor a movie that pulses with joyful expressiveness and brims with possibility, there is a tragic undertone to Ailey. |
| The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldIn the film, we’re able to see Ailey during the Kennedy Center honors, watching intently as “Revelations” is performed; he looks like he’s carefully checking it, making sure it’s perfect, wondering if it could be better — the artist watching the art. You leave Ailey hoping that, somewhere, he’s watching still. |
| The Hollywood ReporterLovia GyarkyeWignot handles details of the legend’s tumultuous biography with great care, honoring his talents while acknowledging the toll they took on him. But perhaps the greatest gift of this tightly conceived and beautiful doc lies in its appreciation of the divinity of dance. |
| The New York TimesGia KourlasLike Ailey’s dances, the documentary leaves you swimming in sensation. |
| Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleIt’s also worth remembering that someone as complex as Alvin Ailey isn’t going to be captured in any one film. Ailey is, therefore, best absorbed as an elegant, impressionistic primer, a chance to bask in his mastery of movement and dance, as framed by those near enough to him to know what it took out of him to gift it to the world. |
| Washington PostAnnabel AguiarThe 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. |
| RogerEbert.comMonica CastilloIt is an educational journey, an uncompromising look into the challenges of an artistic life, and a tribute to the man whose studio and dance company still bear his name. |
| IndieWireJude DryAs a personal portrait, “Ailey” is lacking for charming anecdotes or nuggets of wisdom from the artist himself. But a true artist speaks through his work, and it’s appropriate that the revelations in “Ailey” arrive via the dance scenes. |
| The Film StageDan MeccaUltimately, it’s the archived, audio recordings of Ailey that give the documentary its soul. |
