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There's good in the hood
by CarlosC (movies profile)
Dec 27, 2004
3
of
4 people found this review helpful
Three teenage girls growing up in the inner city find hope to overcome the bleakness of tattered family bonds and urban malaise in their friendship, in this worthwhile indie from the director of GIRLS TOWN (1996). Shot entirely in documentary style, with hand-held cameras and no musical score, OUR SONG creates a pervasive intimacy that allows us into the bedrooms -- and bathrooms -- of the characters and allow them to creep under our skins, over time, despite ungainly production values.
In the end, the gritty modesty of the film is its greatest asset, and its drama, which simmers to a low boil, retains more intensity than the all-out, over-the-top theatrics of many other urban youth movies. Impeccable performances by the young actresses seal the deal. Melissa Martinez plays Maria, a strong, independent fifteen year-old who discovers she is pregnant from a one-night stand, and must make decisions about whether or not to keep the baby, whether to stay in school, and if and when to announce the news to her mother and the baby's father. Maria's conflict drives the action, but the focus of the movie is distributed almost evenly between Maria and her two best friends. Kerry Washington plays Lanisha, half Black, half Puerto Rican, she tries to teach Maria Spanish, and encourages her to stay in school. Anna Simpson plays Joycelyn, an aspiring actress whose interests and other friendships tow her away from the trio.
There is something very truthful about this movie, and the story it portrays, that makes it hard to resist. Part of it is the way it faithfully portrays life in the inner city, from the duet of an ice cream truck and a boom box in the background of the playground in a housing project, to the impromptu conversation between one of the girls and an unidentified "woman up in a window" of the project, this movie represents a day in the life of urban America. More importantly, though, we realize that the authenticity is not limited to atmospheric details, but to the dramatic premise of the central action: how many 15 year-olds find out that they're pregnant in housing projects every day? The knowing details, for instance, when the three girls find idyllic sleepover tranquility in the most dangerous neighborhoods in the country like the calm at the eye of a storm, or how they do not even flinch when they hear gunshots, show us how, for marginalized public school students, this is reality.
The OUR SONG referred to in the title is a remake the 1970 Stan Vincent title, "Ooh Baby," which reminds our heroines of their summer camp experience together, and whose hopeful lyrics ("Ooh, child, things are gonna get easier/Ooh, child, things'll get brighter") provide a recurring refrain. Most of the other music in the movie is provided by the Jackie Robinson Steppers, a real, revved-up marching band from the Crown Heights, Brooklyn, neighborhood that the film is set in, who lend OUR SONG hip-hop flair.
(Carlos Colorado) |
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