(Excerpted from my column at Zora & Alice:)
Starring Kerry Washington, Melissa Martinez, and Anna Simpson
More than one named female character of color? Yes
Who spoke to one another? Yes
About something other than a man? Yes
Summary: Filmed in 2000, Our Song will take you back to your younger days, when your best friends were your entire world. That’s certainly the case for Lanisha Brown (played by a young Kerry Washington), Maria Hernandez (Melissa Martinez), and Joycelyn Clifton (Anna Simpson), the young women at the center of this urban coming of age story. At the film’s opening, summer school seems to have started off on the wrong foot after the girls learn that their Brooklyn public school will not be reopening in the fall, thanks to an uncovering of asbestos. Soon after, a new set of unforeseen discoveries ensues, threatening to ultimately drive the once close-knit threesome not only to different schools, but on to different life paths as well.
Young love admittedly plays an important role in the story line, but it is not the only important subject that friends discuss. Issues such as biracial identity (Latin and Black American), teenage pregnancy, living in the inner city, and budding romantic relationships dominate this picture perfect film, but the power of female friendships is what reigns supreme.
So, did Our Song pass The Black Bechdel Test? Find out here at Zora & Alice!
