Joshua Tree, 1951: A Portrait of James Dean

Writing in Film International, Robert Kenneth Dator described the film as shedding new light on Dean's persona: "Who was James Byron Dean? It is certain no one knows—not to a certainty, not all of the living embodiment of mystique that was James Dean, not all of him. A Portrait of James Dean renders the finest speculation yet offered. But more than this, and most significantly, writer/director Matthew Mishory has managed to capture an austere beauty of a kind little known and little understood by all but the likes of Baudelaire.[5]" Noting the film was both "sensuous" but also dark, the BFI's Sight & Sound magazine described the film as "a gorgeous, solemn portrait of a young man willing to compromise to meet his ambitions." Artforum's Travis Jeppeson also focused on these themes, noting that "Matthew Mishory, in his directorial debut, has chosen to focus on the year before Dean’s star rose. By homing in on this seemingly tiny slice of time, the film manages a nuanced portrayal of an entire era, as well as a somewhat damning appraisal of the Hollywood system that endures to this day^[6]".

Neil Young wrote in The Hollywood Reporter that the film is a "notably good-looking but disappointingly" portrait of James Dean, which stresses a prurient prominence on "between-the-sheets shenanigans". Young did commend cinematographer Michael Marius Pessah though for his use of monochrome 35 mm movie film.^[7] Richard Knight from the Windy City Times also praised Pessah for his "eye-catching, gorgeous black-and-white cinematography". Additionally, Knight noted that Dean's "innate queerness and equal appeal to both straight and gay audiences was and is undeniable...and Mishory's film "lyrically reclaims him as one of our own".^[8] Alissa Simon wrote in her review for Variety that the film depicts Dean as a "bisexual hustler with a crippled soul, pursuing his dream of stardom through sexual trysts...but overall, it is a "solid indie craft package".^[9] Jessica Baxter with Film Threat said the film unintentionally does Dean an injustice by using "pseudo-intellectual dialog", and when you combine that with an unsettling and rigid performance by James Preston, "one comes away with the impression that James Dean was actually worth little more than a pretty face and a roll in the hay". Baxter said the film's redemption though is through its robust visuals, with loads of beautiful and naked people, and the graphic love scenes, all of which "keep you from getting too bored". Baxter was also impressed with Pessah's black and white cinematography, calling it "breathtaking", and said "naked butts look terrific on black and white film".^[4]

Terrence Butcher from