OUR SONG A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2001 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): **
OUR SONG, the second feature film by writer/director Jim McKay (GIRLS TOWN), is a pretentiously paced picture that tosses out a few big societal problems (drugs, shoplifting and, most of all, teen pregnancy) as nonchalantly as turning on a light switch.
The girls in the story, Lanisha Brown (Kerry Washington), Joycelyn Clifton (Anna Simpson) and Maria Hernandez (Melissa Martinez), don't get excited about much of anything, save the possibility of some designer clothes. They're shocked that someone would be sent to jail just for "selling weed," but not particularly surprised that a high school girl is pregnant with her second child. Maria, who is not yet a high school sophomore, is on the way to having her first baby. Almost nothing will cause Maria and her friends to talk much above a whisper, which makes this glacially paced, emotionally dead film hard to stay with. Sure, its topics are extremely important, but this story isn't worthy of them.
The title is partially derived from the marching band, "The Jackie Robinson Steppers," to which the girls belong. You might expect that the band would at least form a significant subtheme since it gets a lot of screen time, but it doesn't.
Periodically, the movie attempts to make important statements about kids facing adult problems. In a scene set in one of their bedrooms, the girls talk about their lives. Beside them is a Candyland board game to remind us that they were little girls not that long ago. The scene ends as one girl throws out a line about how it would be a relief to be shot dead. The scene then fades to black. If the actors had any emotional attachment to their parts, this could have been a powerful moment. But, like the rest of OUR SONG, it just doesn't resonate because we never believe that the girls mean anything that they say.
OUR SONG runs a long 1:35. It is rated R for language and some teen drug use and would be acceptable for older teenagers.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, August 10, 2001. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the Camera Cinemas.
Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com
Want free reviews and weekly movie and video recommendations via Email? Just send me a letter with the word "subscribe" in the subject line.
========== X-RAMR-ID: 29025 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 241702 X-RT-TitleID: 1098000 X-RT-SourceID: 703 X-RT-AuthorID: 1271 X-RT-RatingText: 2/4
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews