Coming-of-age tale On The Come Up follows familiar but rewarding beats

From its earliest moments, there is a comforting familiarity to On The Come Up, an upbeat and vibrant coming-of-age movie that follows a fictional teen rapper forced to choose between her identity and career after achieving online fame overnight. But while that familiarity is there in everything—from the protagonist’s soothing voiceover telling her story like a fairytale to the common hallways of her typical high school—there is also undeniable authenticity to actor-turned-director Sanaa Lathan’s confident feature directorial debut. Like The Hate U Give, also adapted from a bestselling book by Angie Thomas, On The Come Up’s protagonist is a fully realized, complex, and resilient Black girl—this time, one who puts her stamp on a field mostly culturally associated with men.

The 16-year-old in question is the gifted rapper Bri (noteworthy newcomer Jamila C. Gray), who has a lot on her shoulders between her studies, her single mother Jay’s (Lathan herself) limited financial resources, and the imposing legacy of her late father, an iconic emcee named Lawless who fell victim to senseless gun violence just as he was beginning to reap the rewards of his burgeoning career. Bri was subsequently forced to grow up faster than she was ready, especially after her mother disappeared to deal with drug addiction. She and Jay reconciled, but unresolved issues generate an undercurrent of tension that perceptive screenwriter Kay Oyegun keeps simmering between them.

All of these elements might at first sound cliché, especially when Jay (briefly) disapproves of Bri pursuing the same profession that caused her husband’s death. But Oyegun and Lathan treat the material with poise and sincerity, making Bri’s journey a rich one worth embarking on as she competes in a local battle rap scene, and eventually begins to yearn for grander achievements outside of her amateur pursuits. She additionally faces hurdles at a school with diversity initiatives that seem progressive, but whose administrators show their true colors by failing to discipline a security officer who assaults and handcuffs Bri for selling candy at school.