Our Song (film)

Our Song is a 2000 American coming of age drama film written and directed by Jim McKay. It follows three high school-aged girls.

Our Song
Directed byJim McKay
Produced by
  • Jim McKay
  • Paul Mezey
  • Diana E. Williams
Written byJim McKay
Starring
CinematographyJim Denault
Edited byAlex Hall
Production
company
C-Hundred Film Corporation
Distributed byIFC
Release date
  • 2000 (2000)
Running time
95 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$254,199 (US)[1]

Plot

Our Song follows three high school girls over one summer in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. The girls, Lanisha (Kerry Washington), Maria (Melissa Martinez), and Joycelyn (Anna Simpson) are best friends and confidants. They have different family situations, different romantic interests, different moral codes and their own unique dreams.

They are all dedicated members of the Jackie Robinson Steppers, a community marching band, that holds daily rehearsals in a local parking lot. The girls want to master the instruments they play in order to impress their conductor.

Joycelyn works at a makeup boutique, while both Marie and Lanisha work at a bakery. Sometimes they talk about what they'll do after high school, but most of their conversations are about the difficult immediate issues that face them daily:

  • Their school is not going to reopen in the fall because there is asbestos contamination, so they each are challenged with finding a new school with a good reputation, enrolling, and planning the daily commute.
  • Pregnancy and teen motherhood are serious considerations for the girls, as many of their friends have babies. They even touch on the sensitive topic of abortion.

Reception

The film has a 91% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 53 reviews; the average rating is 7.3/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Graced with such a realistic feel that it resembles a documentary, Our Song is a sensitive portrayal of three teenage girls."[2] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 77 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[3]

Roger Ebert said that the film is "original and perceptive" and it does not force its characters into a tightly-plotted story.[4] Dennis Harvey of Variety called it a "finely observed, modestly scaled look at the current realities of low-income female adolescence".[5]

Footnotes
  1. "Our Song (2001)". The Numbers. Retrieved 2016-05-22.
  2. "Our Song (2001)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on March 2, 2007. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  3. "Our Song Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  4. Ebert, Roger (July 6, 1991). "Our Song". RogerEbert.com. Ebert Digital LLC. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  5. Harvey, Dennis (February 6, 2000). "Review: 'Our Song'". Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved May 22, 2016.
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References
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