73
Metascore
13 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100San Francisco ChronicleDavid LewisSan Francisco ChronicleDavid LewisIn 90 brisk minutes, we get a three-dimensional portrait of a private, gender-nonconforming trailblazer who not only paved the way for Black Americans, but also for women and LGBTQ people.
- 88Washington PostAnn HornadayWashington PostAnn HornadayMy Name is Pauli Murray delivers a lively, revelatory litany of all the things Murray got right first, in a career that was driven by equal parts intellectual curiosity and call to service.
- 85TheWrapRonda Racha PenriceTheWrapRonda Racha PenriceMy Name Is Pauli Murray more than rests its case on Murray’s brilliance and important contributions.
- 75RogerEbert.comOdie HendersonRogerEbert.comOdie HendersonIt does what all good documentaries do: it made me want to read up and be educated more on its subject. And what a great and inspiring subject Pauli Murray is.
- My Name is Pauli Murray most effectively serves as a springboard introduction to Murray’s voice. There is clearly so much more to Murray’s story, and the film is smart in featuring the names of Murray’s own works, as well as talking heads who have spent their lives promoting Murray’s importance.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterInkoo KangThe Hollywood ReporterInkoo KangThe sequential, numbers-heavy structure can make for plodding viewing, especially in the film’s first half. But the doc is ultimately a thoughtful and sensitive tribute to a luminary who should be a household name.
- 50Los Angeles TimesSarah-Tai BlackLos Angeles TimesSarah-Tai BlackThe research is there, certainly, but it is presented as if it were just that, without thought for the ways it could be presented in a more expressive form. There is a sense here that film is at most a communicative tool to simply transmit this information, rather than a way to enliven and reactivate new ways of thinking about this galvanizing figure’s past and the resonance of their work in our present. This is a shame. Murray deserves nothing less than a history in full color.
- 30The New York TimesBeatrice LoayzaThe New York TimesBeatrice LoayzaIndeed, Murray’s story is a remarkable — and extensive — one that the filmmakers stuff into an hour and a half that feels like a dull and disorganized PowerPoint lecture.