Our Song (film)

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:

Reception

The film has a 90% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 52 reviews; the average rating is 7.3/10. The site's consensus reads: "Graced with such a realistic feel that it resembles a documentary, Our Song is a sensitive portrayal of three teenage girls." Roger Ebert said that the film is "original and perceptive" and it does not force its characters into a tightly-plotted story. Dennis Harvey of Variety called it a "finely observed, modestly scaled look at the current realities of low-income female adolescence".