Film Review: ‘Premature’

‘Premature’ is a coming of age Harlem love story about a young black couple forced to confront the harsh reality of first love when they fall for each other hard and fast.

Directed by Rashaad Ernesto Green, Premature takes place during a vivacious summer in Harlem where a 17 year old Ayanna (played by Zora Howard who also co-wrote the film) has promising hopes of attending her first semester of college in the fall. An aspiring writer and poet, Ayanna is smart, confident, and daring.

During a summer surely intended to be nothing more than carefree fun time with her girlfriends, she meets a early-20 something young man and aspiring musician, Isaiah (played by Joshua Boone.) Immediately falling in lust, Ayanna’s and Isaiah’s relationship is intense and heavy from the jump. There’s an unwavering energetic and electric pull between the two as they bond (and sometimes spar) over artistic and social ideologies. The electric dialogue in the film actually rival the intensity of the sex scenes. The beginning of Ayanna’s and Isaiah’s relationship feels almost like a high — then they both come crashing down.

Isaiah’s ex-girlfriend suddenly appears at his doorstep, which sows seeds of insecurity, mistrust, and uncertainty with Ayanna. The age difference while not so obvious in the beginning of their blooming romance, suddenly becomes very clear and inescapable as many of the intense emotions Ayanna develops is new to her, but may not be new to Isaiah.  And though very intelligent, clever, and strong —Ayanna’s unplanned pregnancy reminds the viewer she’s still a girl, not a woman. While Ayanna and Isaiah are both young, Premature is a coming of age story that more so centers on Ayanna because she’s still a teen.

Premature is not the first time Zora Howard and Rashaad Ernesto Green have worked together. Green previously directed a short film starring Zora as a pregnant teen forced into adulthood at only 14. Premature obviously pulls from those same themes as Ayanna begins the film as a young girl preparing for adulthood to suddenly a young girl forced into the most serious parts of adulthood a 17 year old is simply not emotionally equipped to handle.

Ayanna’s relationship with Isaiah is tumultuous but despite all the lows, I believe  the highest point of Premature is the solace Ayanna finds in the support of other Black women as her friends and mother provide try to comfort Ayanna as best they know how. Despite everting Ayanna has gone through, she is not alone.

An IFC film, Premature premieres in theaters and VOD February 21