Girls Like Us

When we first meet Raelene, one of four South Philly girls followed from the ages of 14-15 to 17-18 in Tina DiFeliciantonio and Jane C. Wagner's eye-opening documentary, she's an unwed teen mother dropout living at home. Near film's end, Raelene's gone through more boyfriends, added kids, and is now living long-term in the neighboring Pocono Mountains with an easygoing guy named Sam. If she had to do it all over again, Raelene wouldn't change a thing. Viewers of innumerable well-meaning morality plays know that Raelene is supposed to be apologetic, miserable, and hard-at-work on that G.E.D., but to the filmmakers credit, Just Like Us is not about the way things ought to be, but about the way things are. Raelene's happiness may not fit the standard formula, but she's happy just the same, thank you very much. Viewers will also meet Lisa, a Catholic schoolgirl who dates older boys; De'Yona, a nightingale-voiced teen living with her straight-up grandmother (who knows that a handful of condoms is more effective than a mouthful of lecture); and Anna, a Vietnamese-American girl who isn't officially allowed to date at 14 when the film opens or when she's a senior. In the tradition of Michael Apted's acclaimed 35 Up and earlier films, Just Like Us compresses time, presenting a portrait of female adolescence that manages to confirm parents' worst nightmares, yet also hold out hope for the future. Another excellent production from DiFeliciantonio and Wagner, whose last film Two or Three Things But Nothing For Sure (an artistically powerful and psychologically wrenching portrait of Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard Out of Carolina and the new Cavedweller) is also available from WMM. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Aud: C, P. (R. Pitman)