Our Song

Year: 2000

Genre: Drama

Directed: Jim McKay

Stars: Melissa Martinez, Anna Simpson, Kerry Washington, Marlene Forte, Raymond Anthony Thomas, Rosalyn Coleman, Carmen Lopez, Tyrone Brown, Lorraine Berry, Natasha Frith, Chuck Cooper

Production: IFC

Our Song is by today’s standards a precious little indie movie. It’s clumsy, somewhat cheap-looking, strives for the cinema verite blend of social awareness but can’t help but betray its own sense of realism with predictable Hollywood story-beats. Yet when Our Song came out in the year 2000, it must have been something of revelation. Lest we forget that when filmmakers dared to focus on the urban POC experience in earnest, the films largely aimed the lens at masculine subject matter. Boyz ‘N the Hood (1991), Menace II Society (1993), Gridlock’d (1997), by comparison the only thing young black women had to latch onto was A Different World (1987-1993).

Well, that and Sister, Sister (1994-1999)

Enter music video director Jim McKay, whose one-two punch of Girls Town (1996) and Our Song explored the complex and grounded worlds of young black women, as they formed friendships, experimented with boys, confronted forms of oppression and otherwise forged their own identities, under the backdrop of urban decay. At least those films did so as well as a white director could explore those themes without coming across as flaccid or worse out of touch and paternalistic.

Like some movies...

Our Song is the better of the two. In it, three Brooklyn teens, all members of the elite Jackie Robinson Steppers Marching Band, try to hang onto each other as pillars of support before their school closes for asbestos removal. Lanisha (Washington) the one with the most stable family life, i.e. divorced parents on relatively good terms, realizes early on that the other two are taking divergent paths. Joycelyn (Simpson), takes a job at a local boutique and befriends the older girls working there, while Maria (Martinez) battles with the complex emotions that come with an unexpected pregnancy.

It’s easy to see how this kind of mix of after-school-special clichés could have gotten Novel by Sapphire (2009) real quick. Yet little in the film really transpires like you think it will. It’s a true example of characters balancing their resolve and opportunities (or lack thereof), hiding their vulnerabilities, leaning on each other while realizing they all will just have to depend less and less on each other over time. It’s just a part of growing up.

Our Song focuses almost exclusively on the aspect of growing pains and as a result the audience is compelled by the meta-narrative to think about times people in your life drifted away. I myself can recall several occasions over the course of my life when the one thing that formed close bonds suddenly ceased to be a la high school, soccer, a move to a different town.

A little confrontation goes a long way...

Yet one can’t help but wish the film didn’t trim so much fat from the process. Many of the subplots build towards some kind of confrontation. Much ado is made about Maria’s secrecy towards her mother (Lopez), a point that is juxtaposed by Lanisha’s relationship with her own parents. Yet nothing ever really comes of this other than Maria shrugging off her mom’s realization that the school is closing. Likewise Joycelyn’s departure from the group is given the promise of a confrontation but it never arrives.

Of course these concerns are beside the point given that the film is about drifting apart, not clashing together. While it’d be nice to get a sense of closure from a movie that wouldn’t be hurt by it, the truth of the matter is Our Song is true to form. Much like friendships formed in high school, the film ends and you’re not exactly sure how or why but there’s definitely a lump in your throat.

Our Song is maybe a little dated and may be a bit too concerned with its dressed-down style. Yet its message and its personality shine through. Its earnestness is almost certainly a virtue, especially considering it explores the foibles of a population that rarely gets attention in cinema. Our Song may not be my favorite coming-of-age film but it’s certainly someone’s.

Final Grade: B-