Just Another Girl On The Irt

1992 pic by Leslie Harris

Simply Another Girl on the I.R.T
Film poster
Directed by	Leslie Harris
Written by	Leslie Harris
Produced by	Leslie Harris Irwin Wilson
Starring	Ariyan A. Johnson Kevin Thigpen Ebony Jerido
Cinematography	Richard Conners
Edited by	Jack Haigis
Music by	Eric Sadler
Production company	Alive Entertainment
Distributed by	Miramax Films
Release dates	September 17, 1992 (1992-09-17) (Toronto Picture Festival) March 19, 1993 (1993-03-19) (U.s.)
Running time	92 minutes
State	United States
Language	English
Budget	$100,000
Box office	$479,169

Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. is a 1992 American drama picture show written, produced, and directed by Leslie Harris. The movie follows Chantel, a black teenager living in the New York City projects. The film addresses a variety of contemporary social and political issues including teenage pregnancy, abortion, racism, poverty, and HIV/AIDS. Just Another Girl is Harris' beginning and only feature film.

The "I.R.T." in the moving picture's title refers to the IRT Lexington Artery Line of the New York City Subway system.

Plot [edit]

Chantel Mitchell (Ariyan A. Johnson) is an African-American, 17-year-one-time loftier schoolhouse junior who lives in Brooklyn, New York. Chantel is very smart, although her sharp tongue, arable ego, and occasional naivete undermine her efforts. Her ultimate dream is to leave her poor neighborhood, get to higher, and eventually go a doctor. Throughout the motion-picture show, Chantel breaks the fourth wall and explains that she wants to exist seen as more than than just some other teenage black girl on the subway.

She lives with her struggling working course parents and her ii younger brothers. With her female parent working during the day and her male parent working the dark shift and hence sleeping all twenty-four hour period, Chantel is given the responsibleness of taking care of her brothers in addition to going to school full-time and working a part-fourth dimension job at a local grocery store. However, she earns mostly As and Bs in school, and is fully determined to receive an education across her main one. Much to the chagrin of her teachers, she wants to graduate early in order to become into college as presently as possible. Her dream is tested with her constant clashes with her school'south administration, and her recent romantic involvement with her seemingly rich fellow Tyrone (Kevin Thigpen). She becomes significant and undermines herself with false confidence and lack of real worldly cognition.

Cast [edit]

Ariyan A. Johnson as Chantel Mitchell
Kevin Thigpen every bit Tyrone
Ebony Jerido as Natete
Chequita Jackson as Paula
Jerard Washington as Gerard
Tony Wilkes as Owen Mitchell
Karen Robinson every bit Debra Mitchell
Johnny Roses equally Mr. Weinberg
Kisha Richardson as Lavonica
Monet Cherise Dunham as Denisha
Wendell Moore every bit Mr. Moore
William Badgett as Cedric

Production [edit]

The film was shot entirely in New York City. With a budget of only $100,000, the entire moving-picture show was reportedly shot in just 17 days.^[1] It screened at the Sundance Motion picture Festival to acclaim, winning a special jury prize and securing distribution with Miramax.^[ii]

Critical reception and legacy [edit]

The pic received mostly positive reviews upon its release. Just Some other Girl has a "fresh" rating of 67% at the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.^[three] Positive reviews noted Ariyan Johnson's performance as Chantel, stating she "seizes the photographic camera'southward attention similar no other performer since John Travolta strutted into Sat Night Fever."^[four] Other critics described the moving-picture show as "awkward" or "uneven."

Since release, Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. has been praised as a pioneering moving-picture show virtually black Americans, in item a flick directed by a black woman, and is regularly screened at film festivals. Ane critic has argued the flick "open up[ed] the door" for future projects such every bit Crooklyn, Akeelah and the Bee, and The Hate U Requite.^[5] A New Yorker review in 2020 stated that the film captures the circuitous social pressures facing a black teenage daughter and argued filmmakers have "dared non exercise another film like it."^[6]

Despite her film receiving positive reviews, Harris was unable to produce any farther feature-length films. Her career has fatigued comparisons to other black women directors such equally Julie Nuance, who similarly premiered a movie at Sundance but struggled to green-light time to come projects. According to Harris, despite the success of black directors such as Spike Lee and John Singleton, the pic manufacture was hostile to black women, and she could not arrange funding for any other projects.^[2]

Home entertainment release [edit]

It was released on VHS in October 1993, and on DVD in May 2002.

References [edit]

^ Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. - Trailer - Cast - Showtimes - The New York Times
^ ^a ^b Marshell, Kyla (12 July 2018). "Leslie Harris: 'You just can't get a film financed with a blackness woman lead'". The Guardian . Retrieved 11 September 2021.
^ Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. Flick Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes
^ Hinson, Hal (April ii, 1993). "Only Some other Girl on the I.R.T." The Washington Post . Retrieved eleven September 2021.
^ Young, Tyler (27 August 2018). "The Lasting Entreatment of 'Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.'". Shondaland . Retrieved 11 September 2021.
^ Brody, Richard (24 January 2020). "The Nonetheless Astonishing "Just Another Daughter on the I.R.T."". The New Yorker . Retrieved eleven September 2021.