Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

Ailey

Play trailer 2:07 Poster for Ailey PG-13 2021 1h 22m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
90% Tomatometer 80 Reviews 88% Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
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 and featuring evocative archival footage and interviews with those who intimately knew him, director Jamila Wignot weaves together a resonant biography of an elusive visionary.
Watch on Fandango at Home Stream Now

Where to Watch

Ailey

Ailey

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Ailey pays invigorating tribute to its subject's brilliant legacy -- and offers a tantalizing introduction to the rest of a fascinating story.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View More
Simran Hans Observer (UK) 01/10/2022
3/5
Ailey's story is interspersed with rehearsal scenes of a new work celebrating the 50th anniversary of the company he founded. Go to Full Review Kevin Maher The Times (UK) 01/07/2022
3/5
This captivating documentary portrait of the choreographer Alvin Ailey, who died in 1989, treads a fine line between loving memorial and unfettered hagiography. Go to Full Review Marina Ashioti Little White Lies 01/07/2022
3/5
Poeticism ebbs and flows throughout Wignot's impressonistic mediation, fluctuating in parts. Go to Full Review Carmen Paddock TAKE ONE Magazine 11/30/2023
AILEY is a loving look at a dance pioneer, meticulously thorough in its content yet never losing the joy, rage, and striving for excellence that characterised Ailey and generations of his disciples... Thoroughly engrossing and historically rich... Go to Full Review Sarah Vincent Cambridge Day 08/16/2023
2/4
The film works best when his collaborators, particularly artistic director Judith Jamison and guest choreographer Bill T. Jones, provide insight into Ailey’s private nature and his lonely artistic sojourn Go to Full Review Cody Dericks Next Best Picture 07/08/2022
8/10
A moving and vibrant look into the life of an artist that is structured in such a way that any viewer can take something meaningful from it. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More
08/19/2021 Good blend of performances recorded when the ballets were developed, and interviews with people who were part of his compny, and interviews that he did. It reflects Aileys lifetime (segregation, poverty, the AIDS epidemic). See more 08/18/2021 this is a Moving and Timeless doc See more 08/13/2021 Delightful and heartbreaking… he was wonderful and is truly missed. See more 08/12/2021 Real clips from newsreels and those amazing performances. Unvarnished information about his challenges and illness. See more 08/08/2021 There could have been more about how he learned to dance and where. See more 08/08/2021 Great film. I do wish they could have gone into greater detail about how Ailey came to create some of greatest works. See more Read all reviews
Ailey

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

View All

Jamila Wignot

Director

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

Actor

Lauren DeFilippo

Producer

Jamila Wignot

Producer

Emily Blavatnik

Executive Producer

Geralyn White Dreyfous

Executive Producer

More Like This

View All
My Name Is Pauli Murray 94% 82% My Name Is Pauli Murray Watchlist TRAILER for My Name Is Pauli Murray Jodorowsky's Dune 97% 89% Jodorowsky's Dune Watchlist The First Monday in May 77% 69% The First Monday in May Watchlist TRAILER for The First Monday in May Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It 96% 93% Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It Watchlist TRAILER for Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It All In: The Fight for Democracy 100% 68% All In: The Fight for Democracy Watchlist TRAILER for All In: The Fight for Democracy Discover more movies and TV shows. View More
View All

Ailey

Ailey: Trailer 1 Ailey: Trailer 1 2:07 View more videos
View All

Ailey

Ailey (2021) Ailey (2021) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis 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 and featuring evocative archival footage and interviews with those who intimately knew him, director Jamila Wignot weaves together a resonant biography of an elusive visionary.
Director
Jamila Wignot
Producer
Lauren DeFilippo, Jamila Wignot
Distributor
NEON
Production Co
American Masters Pictures, Black Public Media, Ford Foundation - Just Films, Impact Partners, XTR, Insignia Films, Artemis Rising Foundation, ITVS
Rating
PG-13 (Brief Strong Language)
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jul 23, 2021, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Oct 12, 2021
Box Office (Gross USA)
$188.6K
Runtime
1h 22m
Most Popular at Home Now