‘Premature’ and growing up through love — movie review

Premature follows teen poet Ayanna as she navigates love, friendship, and adulthood in the last summer months before college

Quick review: Premature may feel familiar but it distinguishes itself as a singular story of first love and growing up.

Premature begins with electricity. The only kind of electricity you can find on a crowded New York City subway in the summer — well, crowded for a movie version of New York at least. Ayanna (co-screenwriter Zora Howard), a black teen poet, is spaced out watching a couple make out passionately as her friends talk around her. She notices a group of men staring at them and calls one of them over to give his number to her friend. It’s that tenacity the quickly endears us to her. She may seem mature, but eventually, we’re reminded that when we meet her she’s just seventeen and looking forward to getting away to college. 

The beginning of Premature develops like Weekend or even Before Sunrise. Ayanna and her friends are watching a pickup game of basketb…