Ayanna (Zora Howard) says no, but Isaiah (Joshua Brown) says yes, persistent but not creepy. So she rewards him by trying to get to know him. That acquaintanceship turns into a romance which is the basis of the plot for Premature. This is a film that Howard co-wrote with director Rashad Ernesto Green. That collaboration gets a lot of things right, like the spirit of two young characters downplaying their dreams.

Love deserves frank depictions, which is something that Premature also gets right. The film has its share of sex scenes, most of the shots focusing on Ayanna’s face. She’s one of the lucky characters who have their first time with presumably their first love go well. The film’s frankness and sensitivity makes me forgive the trope-y nature of the premise behind scenes of them together.

Premature also mixes scene of private love with public ones, the latter obviously being more interesting the former. They spend time exploring the best of what Harlem has to offer, like marching in its lesser version of Caribana. There’s something refreshing in watching Ayanna happy. And that’s true even when the film hints that not everything her life is going perfectly. The same goes for her friends like Tenita (Alexis Marie Wint). Tenita, by the way, is trying to be her own person while caring for her sister’s children.

Premature eventually addresses the rest of Ayanna’s life, like the relationship between Isaiah and Ayanna’s friends. These are characters who prefer not to hide their true colours. That’s true whether it concerns Ayanna not being able to handle her liquor. Or her dancing with a man at a party before Isaiah walks in. She does this perhaps in retaliation after discovering Isaiah’s ex-girlfriend, who happens to be white.

That white ex-girlfriend is not the only is not the relationship’s only test, as they endure one hurdle after another. One such hurdle involves the kind of posturing both do in the careers they want to pursue. Ayanna also sees threats, like women in Isaiah’s budding career as a music producer. Those threats don’t necessarily pan out, but they perpetuate a certain stereotype about women. This depiction also shows how obvious it is to make the film’s title the way it is.

And since we brought up Isaiah’s career, it’s also important to note that Ayanna seems like a high school graduate. She’s also waiting for the whole summer before studying poetry in some post-secondary place upstate. She’s understandably cagey about her work but the film doesn’t sell her kind of immaturity well.

This love story’s plot twists also have the same points that other films have. And those films handle those revelations in better ways. There’s a third act reveal that feels visceral, and I kind of like that scene. But the story should have arrived there earlier. The dialogue in other scenes also feel too didactic. A little experimentation goes a long way.

Premature is available on demand.