More than twenty years after its release, Spike Lee's debut feature She's Gotta Have It still shines as a benchmark of cinema verité filmmaking and a killer stylistic archive of box-fresh Brooklyn, circa 1986.

Shot on a guerilla budget, largely filmed in black and white, and featuring an original jazz score by Lee's father, the comedy/drama stars the bodacious Tracy Camilla Johns as Nola Darling, an independent 'round-the-way-girl who prefers the pursuit of pleasure and personal freedom to the notion of settling down with any of her three lovers: Greer, a self-adoring male model; Jamie, the token Well-Intentioned Boring Dude; and Mars Blackmon, a dorky speed-talking bike messenger (played by Spike Lee).

Much semi-graphic sexytime is had by all. And yes, fade haircuts and Cazal eyewear are worn, quite unironically (80's style plunderers, take note). And while we hear that Spike Lee has gone on to make a couple of other films since then, She's Gotta Have It still awaits a proper DVD release, which means that the good folks at Austin Cinematheque are providing a rare opportunity to see this movie—for free, no less.

Austin Cinematheque Presents: She's Gotta Have It
Monday, April 30th
Texas Union Theater
7:30pm, FREE
[Austin Cinematheque]