Selah and the Spades

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Selah and the Spades

R

2019

1h 37m

Drama

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Popcornmeter

87%

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113 Reviews

47%

Popcornmeter

50+ Ratings

Five factions run the underground life of a prestigious east coast boarding school. The head of The Spades walks a fine line between being feared and being loved.

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Critics Consensus

A smart, well-acted, and refreshingly messy coming-of-age story, Selah and the Spades suggests a bright future for debuting writer-director Tayarisha Poe.

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Tim Robey

Daily Telegraph (UK)

11/27/2020

4/5

It has a woozy, suggestive grip, dangling some questions, answering others. It isn't slick. It's singular - and Poe is clearly a name to watch.

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Steve Pond

TheWrap

04/28/2020

Poe's feature debut, though, has a style all its own, spare but rich and able to make the umpteenth teen movie we've all seen feel fresh.

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Charlotte O'Sullivan

London Evening Standard

04/21/2020

4/5

Poe - a new kid on the block who already feels like a major talent - calls a spade a spade but manages to be dreamily oblique, right to the end.

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Marya E. Gates

Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack)

02/13/2024

Poe’s film has a VOICE and she is master at world building,

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Nuha Hassan

Nuha Hassan (Medium)

07/20/2023

Whether they are personal stories or a mixture of influential movies, Selah and the Spades is a fresh perspective of a genre that is quite the opposite of its predecessors.

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M.N. Miller

Ready Steady Cut

08/28/2022

3.5/5

Poe’s debut feature is a highly stylized and engaging Juvenalian satire about today’s political climate that plays it too safe with its finale.

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Lawrence E

@RT80757547 02/06/2025

Trying to conceive of some non-fatal method by which I could dispense with enough IQ points to find this movie the least bit interesting, believable or enjoyable. Abysmal script, lame plot, laughable dialog, flat-line acting, poor editing, poor filmography, and even poor sound. Maybe I could donate those IQ points to those who are comparing this movie to Heathers.

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12/30/2021

With an extremely interesting and refreshing point of view, Selah and the Spades intelligently narrates the quasi-criminalistic divisions in a school and, although it feels a bit exaggerated at times, it does its job by painting a portrait of the youthful confusion brought to life by the great work of its young cast.

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02/11/2021

Dialogue was not that great, but some of the visuals and scenes following Selah is amazing. Refreshing and different type of teen movie

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08/20/2020

Whatever this movie was trying to be, it wasn't. By the time anything interesting starts happening, the movie ends.

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07/22/2020

The camera movement added amazingly with the background sound made the movie unique and outstanding, the entire directing was inspiring and the acting was 10/10 too.

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06/08/2020

The entire movie falls flat. It tries to cultivate this intrigue and mystique but is more like a high school acting class- where not even the actors are convinced of what they are doing. Painful waste. Like trying to show gang violence on a rich boarding school level.

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Selah and the Spades: Trailer 1

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Selah and the Spades: Teaser Trailer

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Synopsis

Five factions run the underground life of a prestigious east coast boarding school. The head of The Spades walks a fine line between being feared and being loved.

Director: Tayarisha Poe
Producer: Jill Ahrens, Drew P. Houpt, Lucas Joaquin, Lauren McBride, Tayarisha Poe
Screenwriter: Tayarisha Poe
Production Co: Argent Pictures, Cinereach, Secret Engine, MVMT, Novel Pictures
Rating: R (Language|Teen Drug Content)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 17, 2020
Runtime: 1h 37m

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