There’s an undimmed freshness, warmth and freewheeling energy in this 1992 indie gem, and its director Leslie Harris – whose career since has chiefly involved writing and teaching – deserves a far bigger presence in US film history. Ariyan A Johnson plays Chantel, a young Black American high schooler who lives with her stressed parents and two kid brothers in Brooklyn (in an era before its gentrification) and rides the subway’s IRT Eastern Parkway line.
Chantel is getting great grades in school, and plans to be a doctor, but is addicted to talking back to the teachers and won’t restrain herself, even when she’s sent to the principal’s office. Her relationship with her mother and father is just as fraught – and as far as dating goes, Chantel is not going to sell herself short. And when she finally has sex with her boyfriend Tyrone (Kevin Thigpen), dizzied by his ownership of a Jeep – so she doesn’t have to travel on the IRT – it ends in pregnancy and further disasters. Tyrone gets 500 bucks from his uncle to get her an abortion, but Chantel blows it all in one afternoon on a shopping spree with a friend, in deep denial about what is happening to her, a set piece of black-comic calamity that only intensifies the compassion you feel for her. And when the baby comes, a further existential crisis is in store.
The performances are rough and ready, with a loose, improv feel, and Johnson carries the movie with unselfconscious charm and grace. Her fourth wall breaks always feel natural and amusing; there’s a very funny moment when Chantel goofily sneaks out of the school library while singing the theme tune to TV’s Mission: Impossible.
Once she becomes pregnant, though, the tone and the meaning of the film pivot to something more serious, and the unformed acting style perhaps begins to look a little more exposed; maybe it works better with comedy, but it still has an honesty and directness. This is a political film about race, sex and class, and it’s a reminder that nothing brings all these political issues into sharper focus than the question of having a baby. It’s a film with the power of youth.
• Just Another Girl on the IRT is in UK cinemas from 21 March
