It is a film that embodies a collection of rediscovered interviews in the search for the truth behind a mysterious death in 1992. It is this death that has sparked great controversy: the death of transgender activist and director Stonewall Marsha B. Johnson.
Critics Of "The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson"
New York Magazine/Vulture
October 05, 2017
If Marsha P. fades from the film (there is not enough great footage of her, I guess, although enough to suggest she could be irresistible), the sense of vulnerability she projects permeates the rest of the movie.
Though this film doesn't give definitive answers on what happened to Ms. Johnson, it keeps her memory alive. That itself is a victory over indifference.
Even if The Death And Life Of Marsha P. Johnson doesn't wholly deliver on its premise, France does a remarkable job of finding the continuity between New York in the '70s, '90s, and now.
[It's] is a celebration of a leader whose importance is finally being recognized through a wider lens. But it's also a rallying cry, a call for all of us to acknowledge, appreciate, and amplify the message of LGBT equality and liberation.
It's a bittersweet film: for every strong figure willing to put their life on the line for a bigger cause, there's another who's been beaten or murdered as a direct result for displaying such braveness.
